


The Moth and His Fawn

by BabiiBun



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Age Play, Age Regression/De-Aging, Alastor's shadow is mischievous, Caregiver Angel Dust, Caregiver Charlie, Caregivers, Cribs, Cute littles, Diapers, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Grandma Lilith, Grandpa Lucifer, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Infantilism, Kinda, Little Alastor, M/M, Multi, Naptimes, Non-Sexual Age Play, OOC, Pacifiers, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Playdates, Temper Tantrums, Timeouts, Valentino isn't the worst guy in Hell, Velvet is a cool aunt, Vox isn't an asshole, aunty Velvet, big sister Vaggie, bottles, caregiver Arackniss, caregiver Pentious, caregiver Sir Pen, caregiver Valentino, daddy Valentino, highchairs, little Husk, little Nifty, little Vaggie, littles are hidden, littles aren't known, littles being mischievous, precious littles, uncle Vox
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28472559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabiiBun/pseuds/BabiiBun
Summary: The Radio Demon was known as a lot of different things, by a lot of different people. A murderer, a sadist, a deranged cannibal that had somehow managed to wipe out overlords that had ruled over Hell for decades just because he could-But nobody would have ever thought that such a feared, and intimidating sinner, would be one of the sweetest littles that Valentino ever did see in his entire afterlife!A collection of small stories of Little! Alastor with his friends and family!(ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕒𝕘𝕤!)
Relationships: Alastor & Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Charlie Magne, Alastor & Charlie Magne & Vaggie, Alastor & Husk & Niffty (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Vaggie (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust & Charlie Magne, Angel Dust & Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust & Niffty (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust & Vaggie (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust/Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Arackniss & Sir Pentious, Charlie Magne & Vox, Charlie Magne/Vaggie, Husk & Nifty, Lilith Magne/Lucifer Magne, Valentino & Alastor, Valentino & Velvet & Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Valentino/Alastor, Valentino/Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Valentino/Vox/Velvet
Comments: 18
Kudos: 90





	1. Morning Routine ♡

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey!  
> Writing this story is more for my own self indulgent comfort, it's not sexual or kink related at all! It's something that all characters use as a coping mechanism. If you don't like it please don't read! Positive vibes! Thanks! ♡

It was pretty early in the morning, the sky of the pentagram was still its dull shade of red. Val had slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times before reaching a hand up to rub the remainders of sleep out of them. Today was one that he was dreading if he was being honest. He’d be wrapped up in so much work that he would barely have enough time to spend with his little Bambi.

Speaking of-

Val shifted so that he could look down at the sleeping figure on his chest. Alastor had put up quite a fuss while being put to bed the night before, wanting to stay up into the late hours of the night. However, Val made sure to at least  _ try  _ to make sure he got enough rest; Alastor always did get really cranky whenever he didn’t get enough sleep.

While letting out a soft yawn, Val began running his fingers through the deer’s messy hair, using another hand to stroke his back slowly. “Baby boy~ Come on it’s time to wake up gorgeous~”

All Valentino received was a whine so soft that he was barely able to hear it, along with some squirming and radio feedback. The moth decided to add his second pair of arms into the mix and continued petting the deer demon until he finally saw two bright red eyes staring back at him with tears gathering up at the corners.

“I know baby it’s early, but you remember yesterday that Papa said that he’d have to do some grown up stuff today. So you’re gonna spend some time with uncle Vox and aunty Velvet, okay?”

He wasn’t given much of a response besides another soft whine, followed by Alastor flattening his ears to the top of his head. Valentino knew that Al wasn’t exactly  _ comfortable  _ with the other two, but Charlie was busy with Vaggie and the hotel, and there weren’t exactly too many trustworthy candidates when it came to watching his baby boy. Besides, it’s good that Vox and Vel get a feel for something that plays such a big role in his afterlife. Though, if the two weren’t comfortable with it he wouldn’t  _ force  _ it on them.

With a few swift movements (and some soft protests from Al and his radio audience), Valentino had gotten up, cradling his cranky little Bambi in his lower set of arms while grabbing a few bath stuff with his free hands. He’d need to get Alastor bathed, fed, and dressed before the other two got there; he didn’t wanna give the others  _ too  _ many things to do while they watched him. 

Baths were always a good way to wake Alastor up, while also letting Valentino see just how deep into little space the radio demon was. 

There was another whine, and Valentino could feel Alastor trying to nuzzle closer to his body than he already was, biting on the pacifier angrily (Val would definitely have to replace it again, but he could worry about that later). Alastor did  _ not  _ appreciate suddenly being pulled away from the comfy warm bed! It was still dark and that meant that it was still pajama time! Pajama time meant  _ sleepy time! _

“I know, I know Bambi~ But don’t you wanna play with the new bath toys that the princess got for you? I’m sure you’ll like them.”

The suggestion of new toys always got Alastor a bit excited, he loved playing with all his old toys of course, but new ones were so much fun to play with! He liked figuring out how they worked. Alastor began squirming, already a bit more excited for bath time, a muffled sound of cheers filled the air.

Valentino snorted softly at the very sudden, but expected mood change. Once they got to the bathroom, Val set Alastor down next to the sink and went over to start the bath, making sure that the water was warm, but not too hot. Al kicked his feet back and forth while waiting, sucking on his pacifier idly. 

Val came back over and started to undress the deer demon, unbuttoning the duck onesie and pulling it down his shoulders. The moth maneuvered his four arms in a way that allowed him to lift Al, while pulling the onesie down the rest of the way. He tossed it away (he could also deal with it later) and worked on undoing the straps of Alastor’s diaper. This used to be quite an uncomfortable process for them both, with Al not wanting Valentino to see him so bare, but also, not wanting to wear diapers at all. 

At first, that was perfectly okay with Val, he didn’t want to make Alastor uncomfortable while they were still figuring this whole ‘age play’ thing out; but after having to deal with Al wetting himself  _ three times,  _ Valentino decided that it would be in everyone’s best interest if Alastor started wearing diapers anytime he slipped into little space. 

Within seconds, Val had gotten the diaper off, tossed it in a nearby trash bin, and lifted the deer into his arms once again, heading for the tub that was now filled with warm water and plenty of bubble-gum scented bubbles. A perfect way to start off a morning!

Val had slowly sat him down in the water, gently pulling the red pacifier from his mouth so he could rest it on the counter until the bath was done. Alastor immediately dove his hands into the water, looking for those new bath toys that Val mentioned earlier. When his hands had come up empty, he looked up at his Papa and blinked in confusion.  _ Where were the toys?  _

“Oh right~” Valentino chuckled while turning to the small bathroom closet, “How could I forget!” He pulled out a couple of multicolored turtle bath toys and started winding them up. Alastor watched him with a mixture of curiosity and excitement written all over his face. The bubbles in the tub had dispersed enough so that when Val started dropping the turtles into the water, Al could watch them swim around on the surface.

There was a sound of radio feedback again, along with sounds of awe and an audience cheering. Alastor was completely  _ smitten  _ with the little things! He picked one up and started trying to figure out what kind of  _ magic  _ allowed them to swim around like that. 

Val couldn’t help but gush over the scene just a  _ little-  _ his little Bambi really was such a precious little baby! 

Though he could sit there and watch Al just  _ be  _ for hours, Val did have to keep the time in mind; so while the deer demon was busy figuring his toys out, Valentino got to work on getting him all clean. He had four hands, (arguably not enough sometimes) so he was able to get the job done pretty quickly. The lack of words from Alastor, even while he was playing let Val know that he would be in a younger headspace today ;and he wasn’t completely sure if that was better or worse.

After bath time was done (and after dealing with the booing from Al’s radio audience because he had to put away the toys-) Val wrapped him up in a big fluffy towel and whisked him away to the nursery room. 

The room in question wasn’t exactly the typical nursery. Well for one, there was no crib. Not because he couldn’t afford one or anything, but because Al  _ refused  _ to sleep in one. He would sit in it for a while, sure, but after a good twenty minutes he would either climb out or just sit there and  _ cry  _ until Valentino took him out. But other than that, Val made sure to get all of the things he  _ thought  _ were essential and then had to get even more things once Charlie had seen the room and made a fuss about how many things he was missing.

The princess had been a  _ massive  _ amount of help when it came to understanding everything. She’s one of the main reasons why Alastor is comfortably able to get into little space in the first place. Val always made it known to her that he would be  _ completely lost  _ without her. 

Valentino laid Alastor down on the pastel red changing table (which was one of those ‘missing things’ that the princess pointed out-) and reached over to grab a fresh diaper to put on the deer demon, along with some baby powder. 

Alastor had decided that today was a good day to be  _ squirmy  _ so Val fumbled a bit while trying to properly get the diaper on him. Sounds of soft giggles, along with muffled laughter filled the air. 

“Oh you think this is funny hm~?” Val asked, with a smile creeping onto his face. He reached a free hand up to ruffle the little Bambi’s hair. “Silly boy~”

After  _ finally  _ making sure that the diaper was securely in place, Val had him sit up so that he could get him dressed. He had to pat himself on the back for having the insight to have his clothes and bag ready the night before. Valentino went over to the dresser, where Al’s outfit for the day was laid on top. 

It was an adorable pair of red overalls, along with a striped shirt and white socks to match. Val didn’t usually have Alastor wear his usual suit when he was in little space, mainly because of how hard it is to get him into little space while he’s wearing it. In Al’s mind, when he was wearing his usual clothes, that meant that it was time to be an  _ adult.  _ Outside of the regular responsibilities that came with helping the princess run her hotel, along with a few other instances, Alastor spent most of his free time in little space. It was one of his most effective coping mechanisms. 

Val made sure to be quick in getting him dressed while he was sitting relatively still, it wouldn’t be long before Al started getting more antsy. While he was pulling up his socks, Al reached his hands out to play with Valentino’s antennae, which he usually didn’t mind since the deer demon wasn’t too rough with them unless he was throwing a temper tantrum, but those weren’t too common nowadays either. 

After fixing the buttons on his overalls, running a comb (another thing he had to be reminded to buy-) through his hair, and slipping on a pair of bright red booties to match, Al was officially all dressed and ready for the day!

Val picked his little Bambi up once again, just as Al started to squirm because he was realizing just how hungry he was, there was some more staticky sounding radio feedback coming from him. 

“I guess that’s your way of letting Papa know it’s breakfast time then huh?” Val let out a little soft huff of laughter and started walking out the nursery, grabbing the baby bag on the way out. 

Now Valentino wouldn’t consider himself a chef of any kind, most times he didn’t even use his kitchen (and that may or may not be because he nearly burnt down the penthouse once or twice but  _ that’s not important- _ ) but he had taken the time to learn how to make a few basic things, for Alastor’s sake of course.

Val didn’t have any time to deal with any possible kitchen screw-ups so he decided that they’d both have to settle for some cinnamon oatmeal. It wasn’t his  _ ideal _ idea of breakfast, but he’d be sure to make it up to his baby boy for dinner. 

He rested Al down in his highchair (another thing that the princess told him he needed-) and pulled a few graham crackers down from one of the pantries so that Al would have something to snack on while he waited. Val also decided that he’d start a pot of coffee, since he was sure that this was the only way he would make it through the day, it was for his own mental health honestly. 

There was some muffled crowd cheering coming from Al as he nibbled on the crackers. Val chuckled softly while listening, he always appreciated how he could tell what Alastor was thinking based on his radio sounds, even when he was so deep in little space that he was rendered non-verbal; it was a good way to make sure he knew how his baby boy was feeling.

Valentino began humming softly while focusing on not messing this up, he  _ really  _ wouldn’t have time to make another pot, and he’d rather be late than let Al (or himself) go hungry until lunch. It was the instant stuff, the kind that was ready in about five minutes, even  _ he  _ could do this right.

Soon enough, the sound of soft booing could be heard again, which probably meant that Al had finished all the graham crackers Val had given to him. Luckily for them both, the oatmeal was ready and all the moth was doing now was adding a few things, like cinnamon and a  _ little  _ sugar.

Alastor began to squirm in his chair, he was still really hungry and there weren’t anymore yummy cookie things! He would starve at this rate for sure! “Look baby boy, breakfast is all done~” Val set the brightly colored plastic bowl down in front of him, but held on to the little baby spoon (which was something he actually remembered to buy-) so that he could feed Al. 

Usually he’d let Al feed himself if he wasn’t  _ too  _ deep into little space, but since he seemed to be on the younger side today Valentino decided to save himself the extra work of having to clean up the mess that Alastor was bound to make. The deer demon peered into the bowl, before leaning down to sniff at the contents.

The booing from the muffled radio audience suddenly got much louder (there were even a few soft ‘eeewwws’ thrown in as well).

Valentino tilted his head and raised a brow at Al, “Aww Bambi, it’s not  _ that  _ bad~ You haven’t even given it a little try! Come on~” he took up a spoonful and slowly guided it to Al’s mouth, trying to coax him to at least  _ nibble  _ some. 

Al turned his head away and stuck out his tongue, crinkling his nose as he did.  _ He didn’t want this! He wanted more cookies!! _

Val stifled a sigh and set the spoon back down, he wouldn’t try to force him to eat anything, especially not after what happened the  _ last time-  _ “Are you sure you don’t want to try any? I promise you it’s really yummy-” as if to try proving his point, Val used his lower set of arms to feed himself a heaping spoonful. 

Well, first of all, the oatmeal was still  _ piping hot  _ so spooning this much into his mouth was his  _ first  _ mistake. His  _ second  _ mistake was that he didn’t add nearly enough sugar, so there wasn’t much of a taste at all. Not to mention Al wasn’t even watching him, he was looking in a  _ completely  _ different direction so this whole plan was a failure anyways. 

When Alastor finally did look at him, there were tears brimming in the corners of his eyes, accompanied by the soft hissing sound of an old radio. Before Val could say anything, tears started rolling down the deer demon’s face and he hiccupped before he started full on crying. 

Valentino frowned and stood up, moving to lift Al out of his highchair so he could calm him back down. He started gently tapping on his back while letting out soft coos and reassurances. He knew that his baby boy was so hopelessly hungry, but he also knew that there was no chance of him eating any of the oatmeal. But, he had to eat  _ something- _

“How about a bottle baby? Do you want Papa to make you a nice warm bottle?”

Al sniffled and hiccupped once more, tightening the hold he had on his Papa’s shirt while nodding. 

The thing about making bottles for Alastor was that doing so was a sure-fire way to put him in his youngest headspace, which was pretty much infant status. Was it the most ideal for today?  _ Definitely not  _ but Valentino hated seeing his little Bambi cry and this was the only option he currently had. 

Val shifted Al into a more comfortable position for them both and started taking down the things he needed. He’d add a bit of cereal to the milk, just to make sure that he’d stay full enough. Alastor continued sniffling while letting out a soft sob or whine every once in a while. 

Once Valentino had gotten the bottle all ready and checked it to make sure it wasn’t too hot, he walked out of the kitchen into the living room. He moved one of Al’s  _ many  _ stuffed animals out of the way (there’d be hell to pay if he accidentally  _ sat  _ on one of them-) and sat down, cradling the smaller demon on his lap. Al squirmed his way into a more comfortable position and looked up at his Papa before his eyes drifted to the bottle that he was holding in one of his hands. 

Val brought the bottle over to his mouth and smiled when Al opened his mouth enough so that he could start drinking from it. Valentino could practically  _ see  _ his baby boy slip deeper into little space. His eyes started to drift closed, and the hissing of the radio quieted down to soft, subtle crackles. Valentino took this time to enjoy the comfortable calm moment, relieved that he at least managed to feed  _ one  _ of them.

Sometime after he had finished his bottle, Val had turned the TV on. It took a bit of time to get Alastor  _ used  _ to the idea of watching things on a television, but now? There were so many shows that he was practically obsessed with, in and out of little space!

Val glanced at the time and pursed his lips, he had hoped that he’d be able to quickly get himself ready while Al watched TV and waited for the others to come. But now that he was this deep into little space, he  _ definitely  _ wasn’t going to try to do that now. He’d just have to hope that they’d get here soon so that maybe he could shower and have a  _ sip  _ of coffee before having to leave.

There was also another thing that worried Val, he was stressed out about how things would go between the three of them. Vox and Alastor didn’t exactly get along well on a good day, they generally stayed away from each other. But then again, Al is almost an entirely different person when he was in little space, so all Val could do was hope that they’d both come to some sort of understanding. 

If he was being completely honest with himself, he would have preferred if Vox hadn’t known about any of this at all. But after he caught himself and Al all snuggled together, with Alastor sucking on a pacifier while wearing a deer onesie, well-  _ there wasn’t a lot he could really hide anymore was there?  _ It was inevitable but,  _ damn _ did it still catch everyone completely off guard.

It calmed his nerves a little to know that Velvet would also be there; she seemed to be a lot more curious (and even excited) about learning more about the whole idea. Vel was always more open minded when it came to things, especially when it came to Vox and Valentino.

Regardless of how  _ stressed out  _ Valentino was, he had no other options at the moment. He had already pushed back all his meetings plenty of times already, which, in retrospect was a  _ terrible  _ idea since now he had to deal with them all in one day.

While Val continued to become more and more silently stressed, Al watched the TV with lidded eyes, sucking idly on his thumb. He was so comfy snuggling on the couch with his Papa that he was almost able to fall asleep all over again. 

That was until he heard the sound of the front door swinging open, along with the sound of footsteps and semi-familiar voices that were getting  _ closer.  _

The soft crackling of the radio turned into muffled sounds of static, along with the jumbled, frightened voices of the audience. There were already tears welling up in his eyes and the sniffling had started back up again.  _ He wasn’t ready! Not ready at all! _

Val began running his fingers through Alastor’s hair, lowering his voice and cooing at him once again. “It’s okay Bambi, it’s just uncle and aunty. It’s okay baby boy, you’re okay.”

Those soft words of reassurance were only  _ kind of  _ working, but once Vox and Velvet walked into the living room where Al could see them, he immediately burst into tears and tried to hide himself away. 

_ Boy was it gonna be a long day.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked the first chapter, this is something that I've actually been wanting to write for quite a while but I never had the time/motivation/courage to. I really do love writing for these characters! Let me know if you guys are interested in me continuing! ♡


	2. Uncle Vox and Aunty Velvet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Al has to spend the day with Vox and Velvet, because his Papa is busy doing some big grown up stuff! What could go wrong?  
> (Just a heads up! This chapter has quite a bit more swearing than the last one-)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really glad to see that the response of the first chapter stayed pretty positive! Now that I know that there are a few people interested in what I'm writing, I'm motivated to keep updating as much as I can! Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the last! ♡

Alastor continued to cry loudly into his Papa’s chest, curling up to hide as much of himself away as he could from the other two demons. _He wasn’t ready! He didn’t want to go! Why couldn’t he just stay with his Papa?_

Valentino sighed and stood up, making sure to keep Al securely wrapped up in his arms. He’d be lying if he said that he didn’t expect this, he actually expected Al’s reaction to be _a lot worse_ if he was being really honest with himself. 

“I’ll be right back-” Val walked off, not looking back at the other two, he was a bit hesitant to see what their faces looked like at the moment. Al continued wailing in his arms, filling the entire penthouse with sounds of sobs and muffled radio static. 

“Well that was a real warm welcome.” Velvet folded her arms while flopping down onto the couch, mustering up the most intense pout she could manage. “He hates us! I can understand why he hates _you_ but why doesn’t he like _me_!?”

“Okay first of all _fuck you-_ and second of all...don’t you feel just the _tiniest_ bit weirded out by this?”

Velvet shrugged, taking on a more neutral expression. “It definitely ain’t what I thought Val and the Radio Demon would get up to these days, but who am I to judge what they do in their free time?” She turned her attention to the TV screen, somewhat interested in the cartoon playing on it. “I’m actually surprised that you feel so weird about it- ain’t you the damn _TV Overlord??? And the person that runs pretty much all the internet stuff down here???_ I _guarantee_ that you’ve seen waaaaay worse shit-” 

Vox let out a soft ‘tch’ and plopped down onto the couch, next to Velvet. “Just cause I’ve _seen_ a lot of shit don’t mean that I _liked_ seeing it. But if we’re speaking about _seeing shit,_ I once watched The Radio Demon skin a sinner alive without even _touching them._ There was another time where some guy shoved some random lady and you know what he did? He summoned up some tentacle abomination from the ground and let it _eat him;_ And then he laughed and kept walking!! So excuuuuse me if watching him burst into tears at the mere sight of us has me feelin’ some kind of way Vel-”

“How?”

“What?”

“How’d he skin the sinner alive without touchin’ them?”

_“That wasn’t the damn part I wanted you to focus on-”_

“Well now I’m curious!” Velvet turned away from the screen to stare at him.

Vox stared right back at her and groaned. _Maybe it wasn’t too late to bail on this-_

While those two continued chatting in the living room, Valentino was pacing around the nursery, trying to calm Alastor back down. Poor Bambi was really upset about all this. “Baby boy, I know it’s a bit scary but I _promise_ that you’ll have a good time! And I won’t even be gone for long!”

Al was having _none of it._ He continued crying and hiccuping, almost choking on the sobs that he was letting out. 

Val sighed and ran his fingers through the deer demon’s hair. He really _didn’t have time for this._ Nor did he really enjoy seeing his baby like this. He continued quietly trying to comfort the crying demon in his arms when he had remembered something. He had left his pacifier in the bathroom, maybe that would offer him some more comfort. 

The moth demon quickly made his way to the bathroom and snatched up the bright red pacifier from the counter, giving it a quick wash before pressing it against Al’s lips gently. He seemed a bit hesitant to latch onto it at first, but soon Al’s cries died down and he started using it to calm himself down. 

Val reached for a nearby bath towel and used it to wipe away a few tears. Alastor looked up at him with wide, puffy eyes, sniffling again. The sound of static had died back down to hissing and Valentino couldn’t have been more relieved. 

“I’ll tell you what Bambi, if you're extra good for me today, I'll bring you back something really special, okay? Can you promise Papa that you’ll be good to Vox and Velvet?”

Alastor seemed to think about his answer for a bit, though he was in too little of a headspace to really focus on anything past ‘something special’ so he figured that this was something he wanted (and needed) to do! Maybe he’d get another new toy!

The little Bambi let out another sniffle and brought his hand up towards his Papa, poking the pinky out. 

Valentino raised a brow while a smile creeped onto his face, “A _pinky promise?_ Wow~” He brought one of his free hands up, mimicking his baby boy by raising his pinky as well. “A pinky promise is _extra_ special you know~” 

Al sniffled again and nodded, _he did know! That’s why he was gonna make sure to be extra extra good!_

“Then it’s settled~” Val hooked his pinky with Al’s and gave his forehead a little kiss as well. “Are you ready to go out and say hi? Or do you want to spend just a little more time in here with Papa?”

Val was pretty sure he knew the answer to the question already, but he thought it would still be nice to ask. Al nuzzled his face into his Papa’s chest again, non-verbally answering.

“Okay baby boy, only for a few more minutes.” 

_God he was gonna be so late-_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_“You’re still missing the fucking point!!”_

“I ain’t missing _shit!!!_ All i’m saying is that for a guy that claims to hate him so much, you suuuure stalk him a lot!” Velvet was standing in front of Vox now, with her arms folded, blocking the TV screen from view. “Is there a reason for that Voxy~?”

Vox scowled in disgust, ignoring the way that his antennae twitched in embarrassment under the scrutinous stare of the fashion overlord in front of him. 

“You ain’t ever heard of the saying that goes ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ or some shit?” 

Just as Velvet was about to say something, Valentino walked back out into the living room, cradling Al in his arms much like before. The only difference was that he wasn’t crying anymore, and he had what looked like a pacifier in his mouth.

Al was holding onto Val with all the strength that he could muster up, he started to nervously chew on his paci while peeking at the other two V overlords. 

Valentino looked them both over with a pretty neutral expression. “I heard what you two were talking about down the hall-”

Vox looked as if he was ready to turn himself off forever and sit in a box at the back of some supply closet-

“But we can talk about all _that_ later, I ain’t got the time right now. So, I’m gonna lay down a few rules and if you know what’s good for ya’ you’ll be sure to follow them, alright?”

Al took note of the difference in his Papa’s tone when he was talking to the other two demons. It wasn’t as soft, but more gruff, cautionary and threatening, his accent came out more as well; Alastor wasn’t very sure if he liked it or not. 

Vox, not wanting to be on the receiving end of any threats simply rolled his eyes, folding his arms once again. Velvet on the other hand looked completely ready to listen to whatever Val had to say, like a nerd on the first day of school. 

“Rule one. No cussing-” 

“Welp- looks like I’m gonna have to bail, sorry-” Vox unfolded his arms and moved to hoist himself up off the couch, but the acidic glare that Valentino shot at him made any efforts of leaving completely leave his mind. Velvet glanced back at him and snorted in amusement. 

“Al _will_ repeat any that he hears. So if he comes back here cussin’ it’s gonna be a real problem for me.”

“We’ll be sure to keep it pg Val~” Velvet assured him. “What else?”

“Don’t keep him alone for too long. Either he’ll cry or somethin’ is gonna end up broken. Both of those things can be kind of hard to deal with, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.” 

“We wouldn’t dream of leaving him alone!” Velvet decided to take on answering for them both, partially because she wasn’t sure that Vox would say anything; and if he did, she wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t end up with him having a broken screen. 

Val decided to continue on down the list, though, it was safe to say that he was kind of making some of the things up as he went along.

“Don’t give him too much sugar. Just don’t. You don’t wanna know what happens when you do.” Val cringed at the flashbacks of dealing with the _shambles_ of his penthouse after he made _that_ mistake. 

Al piqued up when he heard that rule, though he was only focusing on the ‘sugar’ part, and nothing that came after that.

“Never took the Radio Demon as the kind of a guy with a sweet tooth.” Vox mumbled while raising a brow.

Val rolled his eyes, “He has a name and I’m sure you know it. You can just call him Alastor or Al. Don’t be weird-” 

Vox blinked once, twice, and then almost completely clocked out of the conversation- _He was the one being weird????_ **_Seriously? Is this man deadass-_ **

“Make sure he has at least one nap sometime today and don’t let him skip lunch. He gets real grumpy if he doesn’t get either, which again, not somethin’ I’m sure you guys wanna deal with.”

Velvet nodded again, doing a good job of making it seem like she was retaining all this info, even though Vox was pretty sure that she’d already forgotten more than half of what he said. 

“Got it.”

“If he summons his microphone, just let him keep it. You’ll end up injured if you try to take it from him.”

Vox was curious now, “Have you tried?” 

“No, but Angel Cakes did and ended up off work for about a week.”

There was a _lot_ to unpack from that sentence, but there was one thing in particular that stood out to both Vox and Velvet.

“You told Angel Dust about all this before you told us?” Velvet frowned, hurt by the thought.

Val noticed and couldn’t help but feel a bit bad (maybe it was because he was still in his caregiver headspace? Who knew honestly-) so he shook his head. 

“The princess is the one that took care of Alastor when he was in little space before I came into the picture. Since Angel lives at the hotel, course he’d figure stuff out eventually.” 

That made Velvet feel a little better, but it only left Vox with even more questions. Questions that he probably wouldn’t have the time to ask or have answered. 

Val kept listing things off, it was a little ridiculous how many things there were to remember honestly. He didn’t really think that Vox and Velvet would remember all of this off the top of their head, did he?

“Listen out for his radio noises, they’re a good heads up, especially if there’s somethin’ botherin’ him. He probably ain’t gonna say anything to you two today, but don’t take that personally-” Val reached a hand up to stroke Al’s hair. “He doesn’t speak very much when he’s this young.” 

Another rule, another ten thousand questions that Vox was just itching to ask. This rule in particular though, was one that he’d make sure to follow, if only for his own morbid curiosity.

“Is there anything else? If we were writing this down we’d already have a whole novel-” 

Valentino decided to ignore Vox’s statement for the moment and quietly thought about it. _Was there anything else?_ His eyes widened in alarm once he realized that he almost forgot to mention one of the most important things!

“Make **_sure_ **that you watch out for his shadow. Keep an eye on it as well if he sends it out, it’s much more of a little gremlin and harder to keep in check. If you wanna make sure nobody ends up hurt, and nothing ends up broken, keep watch.”

Vox had seen the shadow that Val was referring to a handful of times, usually when he was out terrorizing the sinners that were unfortunate to come across him. But, the way that Val was talking about it made it seem like it was just another spoiled child! This was starting to become a little too much for him- _When had this all happened?_ **_How_ ** _did all this happen?_

“Is...that...all?” Velvet looked up at the moth demon. Had she remembered even a quarter of the list? Absolutely not, but she was sure that her and Vox could manage fine!

Valentino glanced over at the time and let out a sigh, bringing Al up higher so he could give him one last kiss on the forehead. Vox found the exchange weird, and Velvet found it endearing. She never took Val as the nurturing type, but seeing it first hand made her heart swell with pride, and maybe a bit of admiration as well. 

“That’s all-” Val started walking closer to Vox, getting ready to hand Alastor over to him. He would have preferred to have Velvet hold him, but she was significantly shorter than the rest of them and Val wasn’t sure if she could even do it. 

Al’s ears flattened to his head and his static picked up again, along with the muffled sounds of the crowd booing. He sniffled and it looked as if he was getting ready to start crying again. Valentino cooed at him and quietly reminded him about their little pinky promise, which seemed to be the thing that stopped the tears from flowing. 

Velvet was pouting again, damn her shortness! It wasn’t fair!!

Vox was staring at the two with a doubtful expression (and a bit of annoyance as well because of being _booed_ at-), there were a few question marks that flashed across his screen as well. Surely he could still _walk,_ right? “Uhm-”

“Before you ask, yes, he technically _can,_ but it’ll be easier for everyone if you just carry him. He ain’t even heavy Vox.” 

The television overlord in question didn’t even get a chance to refuse before getting an armful of the deer demon. Alastor whined and did his best to squirm away, while also trying to make sure that he didn’t fall (as contradictory as that is).

Vox grunted and did his best to make sure that Al didn’t fall, God knows that Valentino wouldn’t hesitate to try and end his existence if he did. 

The booing of the crowd got louder (which was something that Vox _really_ didn’t appreciate-) and eventually Al settled in one spot and pouted. _This sucked!_

Velvet stifled her laughter and got close enough to the two of them, holding out her hand. “Would you feel better if I held your hand sweetheart~?”

Al looked at her and blinked a few times before nodding, shyly reaching a hand out for her to hold. The booing of the radio crowd got a _little_ softer, but it was still going strong. 

Velvet gushed over the way Alastor held onto her hand, nudging Vox so that he would get up so they could go. Valentino grabbed Al’s baby bag from the kitchen and handed it over to her.

“I owe you one Babydoll, you too Voxy~” The moth smiled and winked at them both, earning a grunt from Vox while he stood. 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Vox turned on his heels and started heading for the front door, with Velvet trailing next to him. 

Alastor moved so that he could look over Vox’s shoulder at his Papa, part of him really hoped that he’d be coming with them, but after seeing that he made no effort to follow, he knew that he really was going alone. The thought made him cry again, but these cries were practically silent, coming out in short breaths and sniffles. _What if he never saw his Papa again? Would he forget him? He’d come get Alastor...right?_

Valentino saw that Al had started crying again, and though everything in his head was _screeching_ at him to cancel his meetings and take his baby boy back, he knew that he couldn’t do that. This wouldn’t be the first time Al had to be away from him while he was still in little space, but this was the first time he’d be away from Val with people that Al couldn’t consider more than just _acquaintances._ He was stuck, and he was overall left feeling just a bit guilty. Unfortunately, Valentino didn’t have very much time to stand there and brood, he had work to do. 

Might as well get ready and get it all over with. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Getting Al down to the limo was surprisingly easier than Vox thought it would be. He expected the deer demon to kick and fuss (and _boo_ ) the entire way, but after walking out he heard nothing but whimpering and sniffles (there was probably snot on his jacket) which Vox thought was better than having him loudly sob.

Velvet knew that Al had started crying again when they left Val’s place, but at this point she wasn’t completely sure how she could comfort him. She knew that he’d miss Val a ton, and she wished that they didn’t have to take him away but, Val had to work, sinners were starting to get suspicious. 

There was a ton of gossip about what was keeping the infamous moth pimp away from his work, and Velvet was sure that if Valentino heard even half of what the sinners at the studio started thinking about him, there’d be a massacre. She’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t at least a _little_ curious in what Val would do to them; but she also realized that letting Val kill all his workers probably wouldn’t be the best decision business-wise. 

Vox took some time maneuvering himself into the car, while making sure to keep the hold on Al he had fairly firm. Al was still crying, but soon enough there were less and less tears that fell down his cheeks. He was curious about the limo they had just gotten into, it looked a lot different from his Papa’s! There were a lot of blue lights all around, and the seats weren’t red like the ones in Papa’s limo. 

Al squirmed out of Vox’s lap so he could get a closer look at the lights and other stuff around. He wasn’t even aware that the limo had been started up and that they were quickly making their way to Velvet’s place. Vox straight up refused to let Alastor anywhere _near_ his broadcasting tower, and Valentino doubted that Al would even allow himself to be brought inside, so Velvet’s place (aside from the hotel but you’d never catch Vox or Vel there-) was the next best thing. 

Vox had simply decided to let the deer demon be, as long as he didn’t break anything Vox couldn’t give less of a damn what Al decided to do while on the way there. He was too busy trying to just...process it all. Ever since the first time he caught Val and The Radio Demon on the couch, things had never quite been the same.

Though, he can’t say that he didn’t think _nothing_ was going on. Both he and Vel noticed the way that he just suddenly stopped hanging out with them. At first, they thought it was fine, they’re all grown ass adults with shit to do, maybe he was just busy. 

But then demons that worked at the studio started to realize that their crude, chain smoking, boss was nowhere to be found most days. Some of them even started getting bold enough to ask just where the hell the pimp could have run off to. Usually when asked, Vox would just shrug and mumble some sort of excuse for him, not that he really needed to. Valentino was an _adult_ and a goddamn business owner on top of all that! He and Velvet shouldn’t have to make excuses for him! He did so because he cared about Valentino, and he’d even go as far as to say that he sorta, maybe, possibly, kinda, somewhat loved him. _Sometimes._

It was when he had finally got fed up with having to cover his ass that he decided to go up to the pimps penthouse to see if he like _died again_ or somethin. That would be the only excuse that he had, and even then Vox would still be royally pissed off.

Little did he know that he’d almost have _preferred_ if Val really was dead, compared to what he was _actually_ doing.

Vox shook his head, he didn’t really want to think about that night right now; and even though Val took the time to explain some things to him after that, Vox really just tried his best to block it all out. It wasn’t the _worst_ thing he’s ever seen, far from it. It was just...different. Different in a way that he wasn’t sure he liked or not. 

He talked about it with Velvet, who he still thought was _way_ too okay with this all, but the only responses he’d get were _‘It kind of sounds like you’re jealous Voxy~’_ or _‘ Are you sure it’s the age regression that bothers you? Or the fact that he’s spending more time with the Radio Demon~?’_ or some other shit that was completely _untrue_ and _uncalled for._ He and Val were only friends! The same way that he and Velvet were just friends. Everything was strictly platonic! _For the...most part anyways-_

Vox was pulled from his thoughts by Alastor, reluctantly crawling back into his arms so that he could be carried inside. _How long had they been sitting in the driveway?_

“Aye Voxy you comin’ or what? I can’t carry Al inside myself, move it!!” 

Vox rolled his eyes and made sure he had a good hold on the deer demon before stepping out of the limo, following behind Velvet as she sauntered up the front steps. 

Alastor was completely in awe, he knew what the studio and the broadcasting tower looked like, but he never saw where Velvet stayed. It looked like one of the castles from his favorite TV shows! The sound of ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’ could be heard coming from him, replacing the previous noises of displeasure.

Velvet glanced back at him and giggled while the doors opened up for them. 

“Welcome to my silk paradise~”

Vox raised a brow at her, slipping his shoes off (he only needed to make the mistake of stepping on the carpet with shoes on _once-)_ and held onto Alastor while Velvet took his red booties off. 

“Since when the hell did you start callin’ it that?”

Velvet shrugged, “Since I had them switch all my cashmere curtains to silk ones. Much better looking, don’t you think~?” she motioned for the two to follow her down the hall towards the living room. 

Alastor held his hands out to touch anything that he could reach, he even got a chance to feel those ‘silk’ curtains that aunty Velvet was talking about! They were very slippery and shiny! 

While they were walking, Al had summoned his shadow to go scope out more of the area for him; the place was huge! He wanted to make sure he got to see everything!

Neither of the other overlords had seen Al do that, too wrapped up in the small conversation that they struck up. 

After what felt like a good _hour_ of walking (to Alastor anyways-) they arrived at the living room and Vox rested the deer demon down on the couch, followed by Velvet resting the baby bag down next to him. 

“I’ll be right back~” Velvet sashayed off back down the endless hallway while Vox flopped onto the couch. He turned the TV on, since there wasn’t much better to do at the moment.

Al slid down onto the carpeted floor and pulled his pacifier out of his mouth, letting it fall down the front of his overalls. He used both hands to rub across the soft material of the carpet before he straight up laid down so he could nuzzle his face into it. _It was so soft! Like the pajamas that Papa had gotten for him!_

Papa…

He started to get sad all over again, but he was distracted by something soft and _very shiny_ being dropped in front of him. He sat up and grabbed the thing, looking at it curiously before looking up at his shadow, which was smiling ten times wider than Al ever could.

Vox was only a _little_ alarmed by the sudden appearance of the shadow. _When the hell did he summon it??_ He didn’t say anything, mostly because he wanted to see what the two of them would do now. 

Velvet came back and let out a soft gasp when she saw Alastor playing with the sequin dress. She was a little worried that he might rip it, but his hands stayed surprisingly gentle.

Velvet walked over to the deer demon and kneeled down next to him with a smile. “Do you wanna try it on?” 

Alastor looked at her and tilted his head, he was already wearing clothes! He couldn’t put on more!

Vel snickered and took the dress from him, earning a pout from Al, but that pout was soon replaced by a very soft giggle, along with the cheering of Al’s radio audience. Velvet had put the dress on over Alastor’s clothes, and the deer demon couldn’t have been happier! He looked all shiny now!

The fashion overlord let out a squeal of happiness and pulled out her phone to take a few photos of Alastor, she wasn’t going to post them anywhere of course (Valentino would probably kill her-) but she didn’t want the outfit to go to waste!

After taking enough pictures to fill up a photo album, Velvet got the idea to have a mini fashion show! Al and his shadow could be the judges! She ran to go get some more clothes and piled them in front of the deer demon.

Al was really confused at first, but once his shadow rested its hands on his shoulders and pointed at another sequin dress, then pointed at Vox, he kind of had an idea of what they were supposed to do. 

Velvet picked the dress up and skipped over to the TV overlord, dropping the dress into his lap while looking at him expectantly. Vox looked at her as if he’d just been shanked-

“Fuc- _Frik_ no!!”

Velvet rolled her eyes. “Come on Voxy~ It’s just a dress! One that I’m sure someone with your frame can pull off!” 

Vox scowled at her. “First of all _binch,_ I can pull off _anything-”_

“Then prove it _string bean~”_

Vox huffed. He knew exactly what she was doing and _it wasn’t going to work._

 _It_ **_wasn’t._ **

_He was better than this, smarter than this._

Alastor’s shadow started to mouth the words ‘string bean’ over and over again, then it shifted itself into the form of a chicken; which caused Al, along with his radio audience to start laughing. 

Vox could just _feel_ his circuits overheating in a mixture of embarrassment and anger. The TV overlord snatched the dress up while standing and stomped his way out of the room. _Chicken his fuckin’ left nut!!!_

While Vox went to get changed, Velvet waited to see what Al and his shadow (was it still his shadow if it was shaped like a chicken?) would pick out for her. He ended up going with a really big trench coat along with a fedora and some striped socks. 

Vel decided to just put them on over her clothes, not wanting to leave him alone. She at least remembered that part of everything Val told them that morning.

Al decided to wear a t-shirt for a hat and his shadow put on a beanie that was obviously way too big for it.

Vox strutted back into the living room, wearing the sequin dress, along with a fur coat that he snagged from one of the dress racks while on his way back. He walked back over to the couch and perched himself on the armrest. 

“Oh wooow~ Looks like you might actually be able to pull off this dress after-all Voxy~” Velvet giggled, while Al, his shadow, and his radio audience burst into a fit of laughter once again. They couldn’t get over just how silly he thought that Vox looked!

“Oh shut up, least I don’t look like a kiddy fiddler. You sure you’re allowed to be within four hundred feet of Alastor while he’s like this?” Vox spoke with no bitterness behind his words, in fact, he was smiling. 

Velvet scoffed, striking a pose in her outfit. “I’ll have you know that this outfit was _hand picked_ by none other than Alastor himself!” 

Vox snorted. “So was mine sweetheart~ You’re not special~” 

The fashion overlord huffed softly and folded her arms before breaking out into a fit of giggles. “Fine! I’ll let you have _this_ round! But in the next one, I'm kicking your as- butt!!” 

“Bring it on, tiny!”

Alastor and his audience clapped, still dying of laughter. 

_This was fun!_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

The three of them had continued trying on clothes for the next two hours, some of the highlights included Vox nearly snapping his ankles while trying to walk in a pair of twelve inch heels and Velvet practically drowning in the amount of layers she was wearing.

In the end, it was a tie, with both overlords receiving tons of laughs and applause from Alastor and his audience. 

After finally getting those _death traps_ off his feet, Vox decided that maybe they should do something else, like watch a movie. _Anything but having to possibly put those things back on his feet-_

So, after putting the clothes away and getting comfortable on the couch, the three started watching Beauty and The Beast. 

Alastor liked all the singing and dancing! Echoes of the songs and music could be heard coming from him every once in a while, and whenever he found something funny, the audience would break out into laughter along with him.

Vox had to admit, the scene was _maybe_ a little cute.

Despite how chill the vibes were, there was something that all three demons were forgetting.

Alastor never called back his shadow, and it was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn’t until Velvet got up to go to the bathroom, that she realized her mistake. She let out a yell, and suddenly Alastor’s shadow came _zooming_ back towards Al, going back into hiding as quickly as it could manage.

Vox blinked a few times and scooped Alastor up so that they could go check out what had happened. 

One of Velvet’s guest bathrooms was flooded, enough to make the bath mats that were on the floor float off the ground. Velvet marched over to Vox, with her eyes on Alastor the entire time.

“Don’t try to hide, I saw what you did!” she folded her arms and waited for the shadow to show itself. 

The shadow in question peeked out from behind Vox’s shoulders, its smile had turned to a frown and its inky black ears were flattened against its head. _Oh boy, they were in trouble weren’t they?_

Alastor looked at her with a few tears brimming in his eyes, was she going to yell at him? Or worse, _spank_ him? He was scared!

Velvet continued giving the shadow a very stern look before she let out a sigh. “This is kind of my fault, isn’t it? I was supposed to make sure to keep an eye on you.”

Vox didn’t say anything at first, but sighed as well. “I was supposed to be watching too, don’t blame yourself so much.”

The fashion overlord folded her arms and let out a high pitched whistle, one that made Al’s ears twitch.

Soon enough, a couple of sharply dressed imps scurried into the bathroom, looking nervous and then straight up terrified once they saw that Vox and _The Radio Demon_ (they chose not to question why in Devil’s name he was dressed like this-) were there. 

“I want this mess cleaned up and my mats dried before sundown. And _don’t_ machine dry them! It’ll ruin the wool and if that happens i’ll make a new rug out of you~ Got it?”

The twin pair of imps nodded frantically and got to work cleaning up the mess.

Vox decided to take Al back to the couch and Al made sure to call his shadow back, maybe they could watch another movie?

The sounds of Al’s stomach growling, amplified and it let Vox know that the deer demon was ready for lunch. The problem was...Vox wasn’t really sure what to feed him? Throughout that long ass list that Val made them listen to, not once did he mention what to _feed_ him. 

So Vox decided to shoot him a text, hoping that Val would get back to him soon, cause now Al was starting to fuss, and Vox didn’t _really_ want to find out what would happen if he kept him waiting for too long. 

Luckily for the TV demon, Valentino texted back pretty quickly-

Oh.

_Oh._

Vox didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t... _that._

The TV overlord scooped Al up once again and went to go ask Velvet if she had the...necessary ingredients needed for Al’s usual lunch.

“What?”

“Steak.”

“Like...raw?”

“Val said he won’t eat it if it’s cooked.”

“Oh...uhm-” Velvet went into her kitchen and looked in her fridge, then in her freezer before looking back at the two of them with a deadpan look. “So we might have a problem- But don’t worry! I can have one of my guys go out and get some real quick!”

Velvet, once again whistled, and like the last time, a few imps scurried over to her. 

“I need one of you to go out and get me the biggest, juiciest, best steak that money can buy. If you ain’t back in thirty minutes, do yourself a favor and go back to the butcher so he can serve you as the weekly special~ Okay~?”

The imps looked amongst themselves nervously before one of them groaned and scurried off. 

Alastor’s radio static began to get louder, and his whining started to turn into growling. _He was hungry! Didn’t they know? He was gonna starve!!_

“What are we supposed to give him in the meantime? I don’t think he’s gonna be able to wait that long and I don’t know about you, but if he tries to eat one of us I’m gonna make sure that it’s you.” Vox was doing his best to make sure that he didn’t drop the deer demon, but he was also trying to make sure that he didn’t get a chunk bitten out of him. 

Velvet rolled her eyes, “Did you check his bag? I’m sure there are some snacks in there.” she sauntered off into the living room and started rummaging through the baby bag; Vox and Al weren’t too far behind her. After a few moments she pulled out a tiny container that seemed to have a few graham crackers inside. 

Alastor perked up and reached out for the container, he already knew what was inside! _Cookies! Yummy yummy cookies!_

Vel giggled and handed the container over to him so that he could munch to his heart's content.

Now that Al seemed satisfied for now, the three of them were back on the couch, watching another movie, The Princess and The Frog this time. Sometime during the movie, Al had finished the graham crackers, but by that point the steak that Velvet sent out for was there. She had the steak cut up into little cubes and fed them to Al while they continued watching, she made sure to get him something to drink as well.

After lunch, Al was seeming to get restless. He was constantly squirming and moving around while letting out a couple of whines. 

Both overlords noticed and Velvet was the one that tried to ask him what was wrong. The only response she received was Alastor looking at her with teary eyes while squirming even more. Velvet frowned and looked over at Vox who was just as clueless as she was. 

“Maybe he doesn’t wanna sit on the couch anymore? We can go outside for a bit, that would be nice, right?” Velvet reached a hand out to pat Al on the head, but again, all she got in response was another low whine. 

“Come on Voxy, let’s take him out to the garden.”

Vox sighed and stretched (he wasn’t heavy by any means, but Vox’s back still didn’t appreciate all the lifting he was doing-) before moving to scoop the deer demon up for the dozenth time today.

However, this time Al squirmed out of his arms almost immediately.

Vox raised a brow and tried again with the same result. Then he tried one more time and in the middle of squirming Al froze.

And he stayed frozen for about forty-five seconds.

Both V demons were confused, _what the heck happened??_

There was a muffled sound of a toilet flushing, that came from him and the realization hit all three of them like a semi-truck.

Alastor hiccupped and twisted his face in embarrassment before he burst into tears.

A few exclamation marks flashed across Vox’s screen and he turned to look at Velvet who was wearing a horror filled expression that matched the one that Vox was sure that he was sporting. 

They both knew that the task of changing Alastor’s diaper would come up _eventually_ but neither of them knew _how_ to change a diaper, nor did they _really_ want to.

Alastor continued wailing while Vox lifted him up off the couch.

_Guess there’s no better time to learn than the present-_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trying to change Alastor’s diaper was one of the biggest pains in the ass that either overlord had the displeasure of experiencing. On top of the fact that neither of them knew what the fresh hell they were doing, Al was making everything ten times harder than it needed to be.

The deer demon continued to cry and thrash about, straight up kicking Velvet when she tried to undo the buttons on his overalls. _He didn’t want them to see him down there! Only Papa could do that!! He wasn’t gonna let them see him, he wasn’t!!!_

“Al, baby I know you’re uncomfy, please let us change you real quick-” Velvet was starting to look as if she herself was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Vox was contributing by playing a diaper changing tutorial on his screen while giving the fashion overlord a thumbs up. _Emotional support was still support._

It took about another hour of coaxing, cooing, coddling and even _bribing_ before Al decided to sit still enough for Velvet to try changing him. Honestly, the deer demon was just worn out. His head was hurting from all the crying, and he didn’t like the feeling of just sitting in a wet diaper. Don’t get him wrong, he still didn’t want aunty Velvet to see him down there, but he didn’t have the energy to fuss anymore.

The fashion overlord followed the tutorial that Vox was playing on repeat, and after fumbling around with it for another ten minutes, Alastor was _finally_ all clean and changed!

Vox offered to fix the deer demon’s clothes back but Velvet simply flipped him off and did it herself. 

“Take him back to the living room, I don’t think either of us have the energy for the garden right now.” Velvet really did look almost as worn out as Al did, so Vox decided to just do what she asked, if only to make things easier on her.

Vox knew that once they were back on the couch, there would be a good chance that Al would end up falling asleep, so he brought the deer demon’s pacifier up to his lips so he could latch onto it. He also decided to grab the blanket from Alastor’s baby bag so he could sleep with it. 

Vox sat on the couch while cradling Al in his arms, getting them both comfortable since it was likely that they’d both be there for some time. 

Eventually, Velvet joined them on the couch again, looking a little less worn out.

“You know…” Vel started, not turning her attention away from whatever was playing on the TV currently. “You’re actually...pretty good at this.”

Vox also didn’t turn to look at her, nor did he say anything. _Was he actually?_ He was just doing what he thought that Valentino would do if he were here. He still felt pretty damn weird about everything that went on today, but he didn’t find himself as disturbed as he did this morning. He honestly didn’t know what he was doing, but maybe this wasn’t the worst thing ever. _Maybe-_

“I think things are gonna be okay.” Velvet did turn to look at the other two demons, with a soft smile on her face. 

“Yea. Things are gonna be just fine~”

While Al was asleep, Velvet had gotten a text from Val, letting her know that he’d be there to pick the deer demon up within the next hour. She looked at the time and saw that it was almost five in the afternoon.

The deer demon stayed asleep for another half hour, but once he woke up he rubbed his eyes and let out a soft yawn. He felt all heavy, and he was still pretty tired, but there was someone he wanted, _needed-_

“Papa?”

The sound of the soft voice almost startled the two overlords, they really weren’t expecting to hear a word from him today, but here he was-

“Papa’s on his way honey~”

Al nuzzled his face into Vox’s chest and pouted, he was still too tired to fuss any further so he decided to make himself more comfy. Maybe he’d even be able to go back to sleep-

“Bambi~?”

Al pitched up and both his ears twitched frantically, there were gasps coming from the radio audience.

“Baby boy~” Valentino came walking into the living room, looking pretty tired, but smiling the brightest that the other overlords had ever seen. 

_He didn’t forget him! He was here! Papa was here!_ Al reached out for him, squirming around in excitement and glee. He was scooped up seconds later and Val started to pepper his face with kisses. Alastor let out a little giggle and the radio audience began cheering. _He was so happy! His Papa was back!_

“Wasn’t too much trouble, was he?”

Velvet was almost too busy gushing over the adorable scene to answer. “Oh nah~ He was a sweetheart! Don’t be shy to ask me to babysit again, okay? I mean it!!” 

Val chuckled and reached out a free hand to pat her on the head. “Sure thing Babydoll~ I’ll be sure to keep you in mind when I need someone to watch him.” 

Vox was keeping pretty quiet, he had a _lot_ of things to think about, especially when it comes to the Radio Demon. Today was...different. Not in a bad way, but not exactly in a good way either. Was he really okay with all this? And if he wasn’t, what would he do moving forward?

“Bye bye Voxy!” 

The soft sound of the deer demon’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, and made his antennae twitch in...embarrassment? No, it wasn’t that. Vox couldn’t really put his finger on the feeling. But as he watched Al wave at him and Velvet as Val left with him, the TV overlord realized that he too, wouldn’t be completely opposed to babysitting Alastor again.

_Oh yeah, there was a lot that he needed to think about._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to have a few more littles! Namely Vaggie and Nifty! I have something special planned for Husk but there's still a few more things I have to sort out when it comes to his situation. More on that a little later though- I'm also open for any questions or suggestions as well if you have any! Hope you guys liked it! Thanks for reading! ♡


	3. Playmates!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Val takes Alastor to the hotel so that he could have a playdate! The little fawn is very excited! Angel Dust and Valentino come to some form of an understanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions of past abuse and trauma, along with some swearing  
> There's gonna be some discussion of things that Valentino did to Angel Dust, but I won't go very in depth when it comes to that! I just thought it would be nice to give a bit of a heads up!

It was pretty early in the morning and Alastor was already wide awake. How could he sleep? Today would be the day that he went to the hotel to have a playdate with Vaggie! He hadn’t seen her in forever! 

Papa was still sleeping, he must have been super sleepy! Al rolled over, getting ready to slide off the bed when he was stopped by two pairs of arms that wrapped themselves around him.

Valentino still had his eyes closed, but he pulled the deer demon back over to his chest. “Where are you going baby boy?” Although the moth demon would love to just let Al go so he could sleep in more, he knew better by this point (he only had to make that mistake once).

Alastor squirmed a little and whined, letting his pacifier fall out of his mouth. “Vaggie.”

Val let out a snort of amusement and cracked his eyes open, glancing over at the time. “I know you’re excited baby boy, but we aren’t going to until later today.”

Al pouted, and the hissing of his radio started to turn into soft ‘boos’, along with more whines from him. Valentino couldn’t help but find it cute.

Alastor and Vaggie had gotten off to a pretty rocky start, with Vaggie not wanting _anything_ to do with the deer demon (which at the time was completely valid) and Alastor taking every opportunity to antagonize her. When Al had joined the hotel staff, Vaggie had already been going into little space regularly. It was only a matter of time before one of their _many_ arguments resulted in Vaggie _bursting into tears_.

It had been the first time that Alastor had been exposed to the concept of ‘age regression’ and though none of them had talked about the incident for quite a while after, Al felt the need to...apologize.

And he did. 

Which was something that _none_ of them were expecting, but Vaggie accepted his apology nonetheless. Charlie saw it all as a good thing! Perhaps the two could start over?

After that, Al had quite a few questions, most of which the princess was _sort_ of happy to answer. Charlie was very apprehensive when it came to talking about Vaggie’s age regression. She wouldn’t allow _anyone_ to come along and hurt her; especially not Alastor. 

But she saw that he genuinely seemed curious, so she was willing to open up a little, and let him figure out other things on his own if he wanted to.

It wasn’t until she watched the two of them interact while Vaggie was in little space, that Charlie started to notice a few of Alastor’s more child-like mannerisms. The two of them would play with Vaggie’s toys, and Charlie caught Al staring at Vaggie’s pacifier longingly once or twice. After watching him for a month or two, Charlie decided to try something. 

She slowly started to treat Al the same way that she’d treat Vaggie when she was in little space. She wouldn’t treat him like an _infant_ of course, because Vaggie never seemed to regress that far back. Charlie would do things like asking Alastor if he wanted to join them for lunch, or recommending that he take a break from working to nap. She even got him a little plush deer for his birthday when it came around!

Alastor noticed of course, and he had _wanted_ to bring it up to the princess, but he couldn’t help but hesitate because he...liked it? The thought embarrassed him, he didn’t particularly have a problem with age regression, no. He just knew that he should be the _last_ kind of person to find comfort in reverting back to childhood. Those years weren’t something that he was too keen on remembering. 

Nonetheless, when he eventually _did_ work himself up to talking to Charlie, the conversation somehow ended with him fighting back tears. He was embarrassed, confused and most of all, _scared._

He was _terrified_ actually. 

Terrified of what it all meant, anxious of what could happen if anyone else had found out. Charlie did her best to reassure him, but that did nothing to calm the Radio Demon’s nerves.

For the sake of not driving himself into insanity, Alastor decided that he wouldn’t think about it. It was something he could just ignore, surely.

That wasn’t the case. Not the case at all. In fact, it was the complete _opposite_ of the case-

Not even a month after their conversation, Alastor found himself _sobbing_ in the arms of the princess, having regressed to the youngest he’s ever been. 

After that, the princess had no problem with helping him get more used to the entire idea. She was glad that the deer demon found a way to cope with his feelings, and she was even happier that Vaggie would have someone to play with!

About a year later, Valentino came along, and the rest was pretty much history.

Valentino let out a yawn and stretched, not really wanting to get up _just_ yet. “Bambi~ The sun isn’t even up yet, don’t you want to sleep some more and snuggle with Papa?”

Al was conflicted now, he _really really really_ wanted to go see Vaggie, but he always loved snuggling with his Papa. His ears flattened to his head and he furrowed his brows. _He didn’t know what to choose! How could Papa ask him a question like that?_

“If you let Papa sleep some more we can have chicken tenders for breakfast~”

The deer demon gasped and got himself more comfortable. _Chicken tenders for breakfast? Vaggie would understand!_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vaggie was still asleep, snoring softly while Charlie was getting dressed for the day. It was still pretty early, and the reason Charlie was up already was because she knew it would be the only time today for her to get any work done.

Alastor was coming over, and although she wouldn’t have to keep _too_ much of an eye on him and Vaggie, she would still have her hands full with Nifty.

Charlie didn’t know if this was all just a coincidence, or if she just had an eye for this kind of thing, but she had managed to figure out that Nifty was a little as well.

Much like with Alastor, Charlie noticed the signs while watching Nifty interact with Vaggie. It wasn’t that surprising, especially with how excitable and energetic Nifty was even when she wasn’t in little space. 

Unlike Vaggie however, Nifty regressed pretty far back, around two years old, whereas the youngest Vaggie would regress would usually be four.

Charlie didn’t mind taking care of Nifty, she was a real sweetheart. But, since she was still getting used to regressing, Charlie would have to keep close watch of her for the time being.

Because of how _big_ the hotel was, Charlie found that using baby monitors was an easy way to make sure that her two girls were okay, even when she couldn’t see them. It gave her some peace of mind.

The princess finished getting dressed in her usual hotel attire and gave Vaggie a kiss on the forehead. Then, she grabbed one of the three baby monitors she had, and slipped out of the room, heading towards the nursery to go check on Nifty. 

Vaggie only ever used the crib in her nursery when she was napping, otherwise she’d want _nothing_ to do with the thing. Nifty didn’t really seem to care wherever she was put to sleep, as long as she was comfortable and got to snuggle with her plush mouse.

So, she figured that letting Nifty sleep in the crib wouldn’t cause too much of a problem.

Charlie slowly opened the door to the nursery and peeked inside, not wanting to wake the little cyclops in case she was still asleep. Much to her luck, Nifty was still sound asleep, all wrapped up in her soft pink blanket.

With a smile, the princess closed the door and headed down to the kitchen. At this rate, she’d be able to get some work done and make some breakfast! 

While on her way there, she ended up running into Angel Dust, who had looked as if he was just getting ready for bed, despite the time. 

Charlie offered a smile and waved at him. “Good morning Angel!”

The spider demon grunted, and yawned while waving back halfheartedly. “Good night-”

Charlie looked him over and sighed. “Did you just get back?”

Angel Dust shrugged. “More or less.”

“Are you...okay?”

“Just _peachy_ toots- look, I’m goin’ to sleep. Don’t wake me up unless there’s a fire or some shit, alright?”

Charlie’s smile faltered just a bit, she couldn’t help but worry about him, despite being explicitly told not to. “Yeah...okay.”

Angel turned around and opened the door to his room, stepping in and before he could close it behind him, Charlie spoke again.

“Remember that Al is visiting today-”

Angel didn’t respond, but he did hear what she said. The use of the word ‘visit’ let Angel know that Al wasn’t coming to the hotel to do any work. 

Angel Dust had been there when Alastor had first started regressing, so it's not like he doesn’t know that Al does it; but back then the deer demon was adamant on only being little around Charlie and Vaggie, so he wasn’t fully aware of how the deer demon acted. 

There were actually only a handful of times where Angel saw Al in his regression, and one of those times almost put him in the hospital-

Needless to say, he was kinda nervous about possibly seeing (or interacting with-) him today.

Angel flopped onto his bed, and was greeted by a nuzzle from Fat Nuggets, who had climbed up onto the bed moments before. Without even pulling the covers up on himself, the spider demon buried his face in pillows and immediately started falling asleep.

Maybe he could sleep the whole day away and not worry about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a bit later in the day now, and Val was up and getting Alastor ready for the day. He dressed him in a comfortable pair of shorts, along with an oversized pastel red sweater and some socks to wear under his red booties. 

Despite all the _squirming_ that Al did, Valentino was able to get him all dressed in just five minutes! After that, Val took him to the kitchen where he made the chicken tenders that he told the deer demon about earlier.

Were chicken tenders an ideal breakfast? Not at all, but he’d feel bad if he didn’t give his Bambi any, especially after telling him that he would.

Val took Al’s breakfast to the living room and turned the TV on, so that the deer demon would have something to watch while he ate. The moth demon went off to quickly get himself ready while his baby boy was distracted. Charlie had told him about Nifty earlier that week, and Val wanted to be there just in case Al got too shy or anxious.

After his _very_ quick shower, Val threw on his usual high maintenance outfit (couldn’t let anyone at the hotel see him without it of course-) and walked back out into the living room. Al turned to him with wide, hopeful eyes.

“Vaggie?”

Valentino let out a soft huff of laughter and walked over to the couch, rubbing the top of the deer demons head. “You got about three more episodes of Max and Ruby to watch before it’s time to go Bambi~”

Alastor’s ears flattened to his head once again and the radio audience let out a collective ‘awwww’.

_He was never gonna make it to the hotel!_

Three Max and Ruby episodes later, Val was now sitting in the back of his limo with Alastor nestled in his lap, squirming excitedly.

It really had been quite some time since the two littles saw each other. Between how busy everyone was with work, on top of the fact that Vaggie had gotten sick, there wasn’t much time for the two littles to have a playdate.

Back when Al was staying at the hotel, he and Vaggie would see each other everyday. Then, after taking on the job of being Alastor’s caregiver, Valentino had the deer demon moved into his penthouse with him. 

The day Al moved out of the hotel was one filled with a lot of tears and tantrums. Neither of the littles appreciated the fact that they wouldn’t be able to play everyday anymore. It’s not like they wouldn’t ever be able to see each other again (they did work together after all-), but with the way they were sobbing you’d think that was the case!

Charlie and Valentino did make sure that the two got to spend some time with each other _outside_ of the time that they were working, which everyone seemed content with.

Once they got to the hotel, Val had the driver park at the back of the hotel so that they could enter through the back doors instead of the front.

After Alastor joined the staff, the business of The Happy Hotel began picking up. There were usually around a dozen sinners checked in at any given time. Which meant that Charlie and Valentino would have to be a bit more discreet in how they went about scheduling playdates.

The moth and deer demon climbed out of the limousine, and Val held onto Alastor’s hand to make sure that he wouldn’t go _running off_ or something.

Val said a few words to the driver, then made his way through the back doors of the hotel, walking down the hall, and passing the kitchen towards the elevators. 

The hotel had seven floors, but only six of those floors were used for guests. The seventh was where Charlie and the other hotel staff stayed. It had its own kitchen and common area, which served as a great spot for staff meetings. This was also the floor where Vaggie (and now Nifty’s) nursery was, as well as Angel Dust’s room, even though the spider demon wasn’t technically a staff member.

The only elevator that could even _reach_ the seventh floor was the one at the end of the back hall, which was where Valentino and Al currently were. 

Alastor was practically vibrating with excitement, his radio audience seemed just as excited; their jumbled happy voices filled the air. Val smiled at him, and rubbed the top of his head while waiting to get up to the top floor.

The second the elevator doors opened up, Alastor was swept up into a big hug by Vaggie, who had been waiting in front of the elevator for the last ten minutes. As soon as he realized who it was, Al gasped and hugged the smaller demon back; the sound of an audience cheering and giggles could be heard. 

Val watched the two with a fond expression on his face, kneeling down so that he wasn’t _towering_ over them. “Hey~ I’m here too you know Vaggie- Where’s my hug, hm?”

Vaggie pulled back from Al and giggled, giving Valentino a hug just as big. “Hello Mr. Valentino!! Thank you for bringing Bambi over to play!”

Val hugged her back and ruffled her hair. “Don’t mention it munchkin~” 

Vaggie giggled once again and took hold of Al’s hand, “Come on! Let’s go play okay?” she didn’t even wait for an answer before practically dragging the deer demon down the hall to the nursery, passing Charlie, who was holding Nifty in her arms.

“Very nice to see you too Alastor!” The princess called out after them, chuckling while she did.

Val stepped out of the elevator and walked over. “As energetic as ever I see-”

Charlie turned to the moth demon and sighed. “You wouldn’t even believe that she had a fever three days ago.”

“But that’s a good thing, ain’t it?”

“Oh definitely! I just find it surprising is all. I wasn’t actually aware that sinners could get sick, but I guess it makes sense.” Charlie turned on her heels and started walking, motioning for Val to follow her.

Val followed, glancing down at Nifty, who had been staring at him in awe the entire time.

“How’s Al been?” The princess led him into the kitchen, where she rested Nifty down in a high chair so she’d have her hands free.

“Oh you know him~ As sweet as ever. Should have seen him when I told him that we were gonna come over, I couldn’t get him to sleep.”

Charlie giggled softly and started taking out things needed to make both coffee and tea. 

Nifty let out a whine and squirmed in her highchair which caught the attention of the other two. She was holding her arms out towards Valentino, signaling that she wanted him to come pick her up. 

Val looked over at Charlie and the princess just snorted, continuing to prepare drinks. “Go on, she’ll start crying if you don’t.”

“Huh-” Valentino went over to the highchair and picked the _much_ smaller demon up in his lower set of arms. “And here I was thinkin’ that she would be scared of me or somethin’.”

“Her? Scared? _Please-_ she’s never been one to be scared by other sinners, or shy around them either. Plus, I’m sure Vaggie put in a good word for you too~”

Valentino sat down and Nifty got comfortable in his arms. “She’s finally warmed up to me~”

“I knew she would. It just takes some time is all.”

A few minutes later Charlie came over with a mug full of coffee for Val, a small plate of cookies for Nifty, and a cup of tea for herself. The two caregivers continued their casual conversation while Nifty occupied her time eating cookies. 

Charlie still had her baby monitor on, so that she’d be able to hear if something went wrong in the nursery; and for the moment, things sounded just fine.

The vibes were pretty good!

Vaggie’s nursery oftentimes doubled as her playroom since it was where all her toys were kept. Her and Al usually spent most of their time there whenever they got together, today was no different. 

The two had started off with playing with Vaggie’s dollhouse, pretending to be various members of a family. There were the parents, three kids and a cat (since Al was still a little afraid of dogs-). However, Vaggie had lost her cat toy, so her and Al were trying to figure out a good replacement for the plastic kitty. 

Al looked around the room and picked up one of Vaggie’s plushy butterflies and held it up, but Vaggie shook her head. 

“That can’t be the kitty! That’s the airplane!”

Al blinked a few times, and put the butterfly back down. _Yeah, that totally made sense!_

Vaggie rested her cheek in her hand and let out a little hum, Alastor looked at her and did the same. _What could they use as the kitty?_

After a solid thirty seconds of sitting in silence Vaggie gasped and quickly got up. “I know what could be the kitty!” 

Al looked up at her from his place on the ground.

“We can use Angel’s piggy!”

“Piggy?” The sound sounds of an oinking pig could be heard coming from Alastor. “Nuggies?”

Vaggie nodded and helped him stand up as well. “Mhm! Fat Nuggies!”

Al thought about it for a second before nodding. “Nuggies.”

“Let’s go get him!” Vaggie took his hand and once again, dragged him out of the nursery, towards Angel Dust’s room.

The spider demon of course was still asleep, but he had forgotten to lock his door; so it was easy for Vaggie to open the door just enough for her and Alastor to peek inside. 

Angel Dust was currently face down and sprawled across his bed, snoring softly. Fat Nuggets had moved back down onto his plush pillow bed, and was also asleep, but once the door was opened he lifted his head to look towards the light. 

Al had opened the door a little more and reached his hands in, making a grabbing motion with them. Vaggie had tried _very quietly_ calling the pig over, but all she received in response was a snort.

Al pouted and Vaggie rested her cheek in her hand again, trying to come up with a way to get Fat Nuggets to come over to them. After a few moments she gasped and smiled. 

“Don’t move okay Bambi? I’ll be right back!!” Vaggie ran off a second later, heading for the kitchen while Al stood there waiting for her.

Charlie and Valentino were still talking when Vaggie ran in, looking at the princess.

“Could I have my apple slices now please Mamá?”

Charlie nodded, “Sure you can sweetie~” she got up so that she could get them out of the fridge for her.

“Be sure to share some with Alastor, okay?”

Vaggie took the little container from her Mamá and nodded, running out as quickly as she ran in. “Okay!!” 

Nifty waved at her as she ran out, “Bye bye!”

The two caregivers chuckled while watching her run off and casually got back to their conversation.

Vaggie ran back down the hallway and saw that Alastor had summoned his shadow. They were both peeking into the room and making grabby hands at Fat Nuggets, who still hadn’t moved at all.

Vaggie giggled softly and showed the apple slices to Al. “We can use these to get him to come over, they’re very tasty!” 

Alastor, along with his radio audience let out a soft ‘Ooo’ and Vaggie gave the apple slices to his shadow. 

“Go in and give him some, but you have to be _super extra extra_ quiet, okay?”

The inky figure nodded with a smile and effortlessly slipped in through the door.

Fat Nuggets looked at the shadow and let out an oink, getting onto his feet. Angel Dust stirred, which made the shadow pause until he settled back down. Al and Vaggie were watching from the doorway.

The shadow made its way over to the Fat Nuggets and held the container of apples out towards him, shaking it temptingly. The pig snorted and sniffed the container before leaning forward to nibble on one of the slices inside.

After finishing the first slice, Fat Nuggets went in for a second one, but the container was pulled further away, so he had to move forwards to get more. 

Slowly but surely, Alastor’s shadow led Fat Nuggets to the door and out into the hallway, where Vaggie scooped him up. The pig let out an oink of surprise, but was given another apple slice so that he wouldn’t make _too_ much noise. 

Vaggie giggled and Alastor’s audience offered up a round of applause to the shadow, who simply bowed in response. 

“Now we have to make him look like a kitty! Come on!” Vaggie led the other two back down to the nursery, not even bothering to close the door of the spider demon’s room. 

Angel Dust was still asleep, completely unaware that his precious piggy companion was just kidnapped by a group of mischievous littles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel Dust woke up with a groan, lifting his head out of his pillows. He used all four arms to feel around for his phone, turning the screen on (and hissing at just how damn _bright_ it was) so he could check the time. It was only around three in the afternoon.

Angel grunted and sat up with a yawn. “So much for sleepin’ the day away huh Nuggs?” 

The spider demon stretched and tilted his head when he didn’t get any kind of response, not even a snort. 

It was then that he realized two things. Those being that his door was _open_ and that Fat Nuggets was _gone._

Angel sprang out of bed and looked around his room frantically, checking the closet, the bathroom, and even under his bed. _This was bad. Very bad. Oh no oh no oh no-_

He could have sworn that he closed and _locked_ his door! He always made sure that he did! Angel paused when the thought of someone coming _in_ his room crossed his mind. The thought made his anxiety spike even further. Someone coming into his room when he was in such a defenseless state? He didn’t think that the others would do that, but the possibility of that being what happened is still _deeply upsetting-_

The spider demon took a moment to _breathe._ He still had to find Fat Nuggets, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to if he ended up having an anxiety attack.

Once he felt grounded enough, Angel walked out of his room, making _sure_ that the door was closed this time. He quickly scanned the hallways for any sign of his pig and once he was sure that the area was clear, he moved on to the next area.

He’d check the kitchen, then the common area and Fat Nuggets wasn’t there then he’d just search the entire fuckin’ hotel. 

There wasn’t much happiness in the afterlife that Angel Dust lived in, but Nuggs was one of the few things that he could say brought him any kind of real joy.

He wasn’t about to lose that happiness. Not today!

The spider demon continued on down the hall, making a beeline for the kitchen. He could hear voices coming from there, so he could only assume that the princess and someone else (probably Nifty) was in there.

Angel figured that he could ask her for help, two heads were better than one, right? 

“Aye I can’t find Fat Nug-”

Angel Dust froze in the entryway of the kitchen, with his words dying on his lips.

No more than ten feet away from him sat Valentino, who had turned his attention onto the spider.

All the resolve that Angel had was swept away in one fell swoop, quickly being replaced with anxiety and pure distress. 

Both Charlie and Valentino could see, just how upset Angel Dust had become and neither could blame him. Charlie knew she had forgot something-

Angel Dust took a few steps back, not once taking his eyes off Valentino or Nifty. 

Charlie got up and walked over to him, hoping to take his attention off the moth demon before he had an anxiety attack. “Angel? Did you say that Fat Nuggets was missing?”

Angel blinked a few times and slowly turned his gaze to Charlie, his expression was one that could easily be read as _‘what the fuck is_ **_he_ ** _doing here’_ but also as _‘please get me away from him’._

“I can help you find him, if that’s okay?” Charlie made sure to keep her voice calm and leveled, it wouldn’t do anyone good if she sounded just as panicked as Angel Dust looked.

Angel nodded very slowly, and backed even further away from the kitchen entrance, wanting there to be as much space between him and Valentino as possible.

Charlie turned back to Val with a worried expression fixed onto her face.

“Go on and help him, we’ll be just fine.” Val reassured her. He would offer to help as well but he already knew that asking would probably do more harm than good. 

The princess nodded and smiled softly before turning back to the distressed spider. “Let’s go check the common room, I’m sure he couldn’t have gotten far.” She started walking, which prompted Angel to follow. 

“Angel...I’m really sor-”

“What the fuck is he doing up here!? You didn’t think that this was somethin’ that I would have wanted to be warned about!?”

Charlie flinched at the sudden outburst from the spider demon, she knew that he was upset- He had every right to be! But she needed to make sure that he didn’t get too worked up. 

“I know I should have warned you and I’m sorry that I forgot to mention it this morning. But I need you to calm down-”

“How am I supposed to be calm when the guy responsible for all my problems is just down the hall!?”

“He’s here because he takes care of Al, you know that. I understand that the things he’s done to you in the past still affect you to this day, and I’m not forcing you to interact with him at all while he’s here.”

“I still can’t sleep at night because of him...I’m constantly worrying about what he’ll come and do to me one of these days. I’m always fukin’ anxious and...Sometimes I can’t even stand looking at myself in the mirror for fucks sake!! And that’s all because of him! Even now, it feels like my heart's about to beat out of my fuckin’ chest because I know that at any second he could come and make my life just as miserable as it was before.”

Angel Dust ran two hands through his hair, while he wrapped his other two arms around his waist. He took in a shaky breath and tried to ignore the way his heart was hammering against his ribcage. 

“You shouldn’t trust a guy like Val, you know. All he does is get people hurt, or killed.”

“Believe me, when he first came around, I had my suspicions too; especially when he started to spend more time around Alastor. But, I thought that maybe I could give him a chance? Perhaps he could...change if he just had a little help. It would go against everything I worked for if I just turned him away.” Charlie sighed again, walking into the common area so she could start looking.

“I’m not asking you to forgive him, you don’t ever have to if you don’t want to. But, because he’s Alastor’s caregiver, he will come to the hotel from time to time, and I want to make sure that you’ll be okay with that.”

Angel Dust didn’t respond. _How could he ever be okay with that?_

“Hey princess? I think I might have found who you’re looking for~”

The sound of Valentino’s muffled voice coming from Charlie’s baby monitor made both the demons jump in surprise. 

If he was this close to the monitor, then that meant that Val, along with Fat Nuggets (and the littles) were currently in the nursery. 

Charlie turned to look at Angel and smiled. “I can go get him and bring him to your room, if you’d prefer.”

Angel Dust chewed nervously at his bottom lip and shook his head. He wanted to get Fat Nuggets out of Val’s reach as soon as possible, and the only way to make sure of that was to do it himself. “I can get him myself-” _Could he though?_

“Well, I have to check up on Vaggie and Nifty anyways, so I’ll come with you.”

Without another word the two demons walked out of the common area and speed walked towards the nursery down the hallway. 

The door was open, and Valentino was sitting cross-legged on the floor, with Nifty sitting down in front of him, playing with some blocks. 

Vaggie and Al were on the other side of the room, kneeling down on the ground with Fat Nuggets in between them. The pig was wearing a cat ear headband and what appeared to be some sort of tail, which had been taped on. 

Charlie looked around at everyone and let out a small huff of laughter. _Oh it was so precious!_ But she soon had to put on a more serious expression, clearing her throat to get the attention of all the littles in the room (including Alastor’s shadow).

Angel Dust was standing behind her, trying not to focus on Val. _He was just there to get Fat Nuggets. Then he could go back to his room and break down as he pleased._

Vaggie and Alastor looked at Charlie and immediately knew that they were in trouble. _Uh oh-_

“Vaggie, Alastor, why did you take Fat Nuggets out of Angel’s room without asking? I know you both know better than that.”

Alastor’s ears flattened and the sound of radio static could be heard coming from him.

Vaggie fiddled with her fingers, not looking her Mamá in the eyes. “But he was sleeping so...so didn’t wanna wake him up.”

Charlie sighed softly. “That doesn’t mean that you can just take him sweetheart, you had Angel worried sick.” 

Vaggie turned her gaze onto the spider demon, with cheeks that were rapidly getting flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry Angel…”

“Don’t you think you should say sorry too Bambi?” Valentino added, making sure to keep his voice low and calm.

Alastor also looked up at Angel Dust, with eyes that were already starting to brim with tears. _He hoped that Angel wasn’t mad at him, he didn’t want the other demon to be upset!_

“S-Sorry…”

Nifty was looking around the room, blinking in confusion before she raised the block in her hands and blurted out a cheery “Sorry!” 

Valentino and Charlie both snorted in amusement and decided to try lightening the mood, they didn’t want there to be any tears today. Charlie stepped into the room and went over to the dollhouse, kneeling down in front of it. 

“What were you two playing?”

Vaggie was still feeling a bit embarrassed, but she still explained the game that they were playing to her Mamá, making _sure_ to mention that Fat Nuggets was supposed to be their pet kitty. 

“I tell you what, how ‘bout I be the kitty hm?”

Everyone’s attention was on Val and soon enough Vaggie broke into a fit of giggles. 

“Really?”

“Yep~ I’ll even take off my hat-” The moth demon took his prized hat off and rested it on top of Nifty’s head. “See~?”

Nifty let out a happy noise when the oversized hat was placed on her. _Wowie! She always wanted to wear the hat!_

Al joined in on the giggling, along with his radio audience. Vaggie took the headband off of Fat Nuggets and scurried over to the taller moth demon so that she could put it on him.

Alastor’s giggles turned into full blown laughs. _Papa looked so silly!_

Vaggie started explaining the game to Val, who was listening intently so he wouldn't forget anything

Charlie watched the four with a fond smile, it had been a slow process, but she was glad that she managed to get the three littles comfortable enough to be themselves. She had to admit that she was proud of Valentino as well, who would have thought that a guy like him would make such a good caregiver?

Angel Dust watched the scene in front of him with conflicted feelings. Everything about Val was...different. He wasn’t yelling, or growling, or even cussing! It was almost like looking at a completely different person.

Angel wasn’t buying it.

Not at all.

There had to be some reason that he was doing this, some ulterior motive. Valentino never did **anything** without the hopes of gaining something. The thoughts of what he _could_ be planning made Angel’s stomach twist in worry. 

_He_ could handle anything Val threw his way, but he wasn’t so sure about the others, especially Alastor, Vaggie and Nifty. He could do whatever he wanted to them, and they’d be in no state to do anything about it; and as much as Angel hates to admit it, he doesn’t want to see that happen. 

He doubted that Charlie would allow him to do anything to hurt them (God knows that she would probably make sure he died a _second_ time-) but that didn’t make the spider demon worry any less.

Despite how much the thought _terrified_ him, Angel decided that as long as he could help it, he’d make _sure_ that Valentino didn’t hurt anybody while in the hotel. He’d keep an extra close eye on Alastor while he was here, since it would be the only time he could. 

If this really was one of Valentino’s cruel plans to hurt anyone at the hotel, he’d have to go through the spider demon first. 

He’d keep them safe, or die (again) trying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day went by without much of an incident. Vaggie and Alastor played quite a few games, some that Nifty got to play as well. Charlie made them all chicken tenders for lunch, which prompted Al to tell everyone that his Papa had let him have the exact same thing for breakfast that morning. 

Vaggie was jealous, and Valentino ended up getting quite an earful from the princess.

_‘A balanced breakfast is always important! Chicken tenders is not a balanced breakfast Valentino!’_

The moth overlord offered to clean up after lunch, to show just _how terribly sorry_ he was for making the _mistake_ of giving Al chicken tenders for breakfast.

So, while Charlie went to lay all three littles down for a nap (which was honestly a much harder job to do) Val stayed in the kitchen, cleaning like he said he would.

Angel Dust had been watching him all day from a distance, making sure that Val didn’t _try anything._ He honestly thought that he was being somewhat discreet about it-

“Starin’ is real rude Angel Cakes~”

Damn-

Angel Dust was anxious, his stomach was twisting in fear once again and his hands wouldn’t stop shaking no matter how much he tried to steady them. 

He could just walk away. He didn’t _have_ to stay. But if he walked away, then he knew that he would never be able to work himself up enough to confront the moth overlord again. 

Valentino was well aware of Angel’s presence the entire day, but he chose to ignore it for the spider’s sake.  
  
“I never took you as the...caregivin’ type.” Angel’s words came out shaky, but there was still resolve behind them.

Val continued washing the dishes, “I never wanted to be taken as the caregivin’ type…”

Angel stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking of his next few words carefully, but before he could say anything Val cut him off.

“Look Angel Cakes, I know that I’ve put you through a lot of fucked up shit. I know that I was one of the people that took advantage of you and made the last few years of your afterlife miserable. I don’t expect you to forgive me, much less want to even be in the same damn room as me. But I do think that I still owe you some form of an apology. So, I’m sor-”

“Bullshit.”

Val paused and blinked a few times. “What?”

“I said **bullshit** you fuckin’ asshole!! You really expect me to believe that you _actually_ give a single shit about anybody here!? You expect me to believe that you’ve just _suddenly_ decided that you want to be a better person?? What’s different now huh!?”

Angel’s sudden outburst shocked them both, and despite how much every self persevering instinct was telling him to stop, he couldn’t.

“After _everything_ you’ve done to me, the ways you’ve battered and fuckin’ **_traumatized_ ** me; you think that I’m gonna believe that any of this shit is _genuine?_ Admit that it’s just another one of your fucked up plans to get people hurt and save everyone the trouble.”

“Alastor.”

Angel was about to open his mouth to say more, but he stopped.

“You asked what was different. The difference is Alastor. Takin’ care of him has put a lot of things into a new perspective for me. He relies on me to keep him safe-”

Valentino, turned around so he could look over at the spider demon.

“He trusts me enough not to hurt him. When he looks at me, like I’m the greatest person in the world, it makes me want to be better for him. Alastor means the world to me, and whether you choose to believe that or not is up to you. But, there’s the answer to your question. Sorry if it ain’t as _sinister_ as you thought.” 

The kitchen fell silent once again, with neither demon having anything to say. 

“This hotel is my home, and the people that work here...mean a lot to me.” Angel’s voice had lost all the bite that it had just a few moments before, but it wasn’t nearly as shaky.

“I understand.”

And if only for the moment, Angel wanted to believe him. He wanted to believe that maybe Valentino really _did_ understand.

But he knew better than that.

If Val wanted Angel to believe that he really did understand, and that he really was willing to change, he'd have to _prove it._

Cause, like he said, this hotel was his home. It was one of the few joys he had left.

_And he wasn't gonna let anyone take this one from him either._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it was important to bring up some of the history between Angel Dust and Valentino, since it's such a big part of those two characters; along with the fact that moving forward, Val is going to end up going to the hotel more often. I hope none of my writing came off as me downplaying anything that Val did to Angel in the past, because that's not what I'm trying to do at all. I'm writing Valentino as a character who knows that they've done incredibly terrible things in the past, but wants to start making amends with the people around him.
> 
> I also want to make it clear that in the universe that this story takes place in, Valentino **never** sexually assaults Angel Dust in any way. This does not excuse any of the other abuse that Valentino had made him endure in the past, I simply want to make sure that there's no confusion pertaining to that. 
> 
> I know that this concept is pretty niche, and that because of that the characters are ooc, but like I said from the beginning, this story is all for fun! It's filled with cute concepts and headcannons that I hope everyone is okay with!  
> I'll be sure to write a chapter that's a bit less heavy next time, I already have something in mind! And for those wondering about Husk, I'm still working on the chapter that focuses more on him. I'm actually considering just writing it as its own story, but I'll think about it more.  
> Hope you guys liked this chapter! I'm really happy about the positive feedback this story has been getting! Thanks for reading! ♡


	4. Heartaches, Heartaches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alastor is having a bit of trouble sleeping because of an icky nightmare, good thing his Papa is there to help!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't let the name of the chapter fool you! It's much more lighthearted than the last!

Valentino woke up to the sound of whimpers and whines coming from Alastor, along with a few sniffles and jumbled radio static.

Al’s body was trembling, he had his face buried in his Papa’s chest and he was trying to hold back tears. 

Valentino sat up, holding his little fawn close to his chest with his lower set of arms while rubbing the remainders of sleep from his eyes. Alastor clung onto him, taking in a shaky breath.

“Did you have another nightmare baby boy?”

Al’s ears flattened against his head as he nodded.

“Do you want to tell Papa about it?”

The deer demon shook his head. He didn’t want to ever think about it ever again, much less  _ talk  _ about it. 

Valentino leaned down to plant a soft kiss on Al’s head before he hoisted himself out of bed, taking his baby with him of course. 

It wasn’t unusual for Alastor to have nightmares, in fact, it was more common than the deer demon would like to admit. However, it wasn’t often that those nightmares caused him so much  _ distress.  _

There are times when everything just feels so...real. So physical that it almost felt as if he were alive once more, experiencing it again.

Alastor would not like to experience those times again.

Valentino had shuffled his way into the kitchen, opting to leave the lights off (he wouldn’t really need them anyways) while he heated up some milk for a bottle. 

While waiting, Val decided that he might as well try to take his baby’s mind off the yucky nightmare that  _ dared _ to disturb his much  _ needed _ rest.

So, he started humming a familiar tune, one that Alastor was sure to know; it was one of his favorite songs after all.

Al stayed quiet for a few moments, listening to the sound of his Papa’s voice and feeling the way his chest would vibrate while he hummed. Soon enough, Alastor’s radio static died down, and switched to the instrumental of the song he was hearing.

That seemed to be just what Valentino had been waiting for him to do, because soon after the muffled instrumental played he had begun singing out the lyrics.

_ “Heartaches, heartaches, my lovin’ you meant only heartaches.” _

Valentino never considered himself a good singer, not even close. He thought his voice was way too raspy and gruff to sound even half decent. But, Alastor always seemed to love hearing him sing, despite how awful Val thought he sounded.

_ “ Your kiss was such a sacred thing to me, I can't believe it's just a burnin’ memory.” _

Al’s radio instrumental continued along with him, getting a little louder even. Valentino chose not to think too much about the lyrics, the premise of the song was honestly pretty sad. 

_ “Heartaches, heartaches, what does it matter how my heart breaks?” _

Alastor nuzzled his face into his Papa’s chest and let out a soft sigh. His body wasn’t shaking like a leaf anymore and he was starting to feel sleepy once again. 

Val had gotten so distracted while singing that he ended up heating the milk too much, so now they had to wait for it to  _ cool down.  _

He decided to walk out of the kitchen and onto the balcony connected to the living room. It was a pretty warm night, and the dull red of pentagram city’s ‘moon’ covered the two demons in crimson moonlight.

Alastor’s radio music was starting to get softer now, signifying that he was beginning to fall asleep once again. Valentino smiled and kept him cradled against his chest while he finished off the last of the lyrics. 

_ “I should be happy with someone new, but my heart aches for you.” _

The moth demon went back to humming along with the dwindling music while rocking back and forth slowly. 

Alastor yawned, and as the instrumental continued to soften as he went back to sleep, Valentino went back inside.

Even though he doubted that Al would want it now, Val still decided to make the bottle,  _ just in case- _

The last note of the instrumental played, echoing through the penthouse before reverting back into the soft hiss of a radio. Val was glad to know that his Bambi would at least get enough rest, he would need it.

With sleeping baby and bottle in hand, Valentino made his way back to their bedroom, continuing to hum even without the extra music.

_ Maybe this song could become one of his favorites too.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that Valentino sings is "Heartaches" by Al Bowlly, it's been a favorite of mine for a few years now! You should really give it a listen! This chapter is much shorter since college has started back up for me. But I'll try my best to keep updates consistent! I have a few ideas of my own, but I'm happy to take any requests or suggestions moving forward also!  
> Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading! ♡


	5. Happy Birthday Valentino!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Papa's birthday today! Al couldn't be more excited to celebrate!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vox and Velvet are in this chapter, so TW for some swearing! (not in front of little Al of course!!)

Little Alastor was awake, he had been for quite some time. Today was a super extra special day! It was Papa’s birthday!! He didn’t wanna miss a second of it!

Unfortunately, Al ended up having to spend the night at the hotel, because he had to do some icky _adult work._ But the princess promised that they would make a cake before his Papa came to pick him up! 

Alastor and Vaggie (with a bit of help from Nifty) had made a huge pillow fort in the nursery the night before, so that’s where all the littles slept. 

Vaggie and Nifty were both still asleep, _didn’t they know what day it was?_

Al stretched and crawled across a mountain of pillows so he could shake Vaggie awake.

The little moth did _not_ appreciate being woken up, not one bit!

Vaggie whined and turned away from Al, hoping that he would give up and let her sleep some more. Al pouted, and the static coming from him began to get a bit louder.

“Vaggie-”

He tried shaking her again, being a little less gentle this time.

That resulted in him getting a surprise smack to the face with the pillow that Vaggie was previously cuddling with.

“Sleepy time!” 

Al fell back (onto more pillows luckily) and for a second, he was completely floored. _What had just happened?_

Vaggie let out a huff and started to nestle herself back into the pillows, ready to go back to sleep-

But then she was hit with not one, but _two_ pillows!

The little moth quickly sat up with a pout fixated on her face- _what the heck!?_

Alastor and his shadow were both standing (well _kneeling_ ) there, with pillows in hand. 

“Is Papa’s birt-” little Al couldn’t even finish his sentence before Vaggie grabbed two pillows of her own so she could hit them both back.

Al’s shadow let out a muffled giggle, obviously finding the whole ordeal _really really funny-_

Vaggie was wide awake now, and absolutely ready to _destroy_ Alastor in this impromptu early morning pillow fight.

The two littles began ‘ _viciously’_ swinging at one another, unwilling to lose. Al’s shadow had eventually joined back in (which was _very very unfair if you asked Vaggie!_ ) so the little moth had to start moving around the room so that she wouldn’t get hit as much.

Al’s shadow was hot on her trail, swinging anytime there was an opening.

Alastor couldn’t help but giggle while running after Vaggie as well. _This was actually lots of fun!_

Eventually Vaggie also joined in on the giggling. The three were having a good time!

In the midst of all their fun, the littles seemed to forget that there was one other person in the room with them. A person who _extra extra extra_ did not appreciate being woken up.

All the noise had woken Nifty up, much to her dismay. Along with still being very tired, Nifty was also sitting in a wet diaper, so she was even _more_ uncomfortable.

Tears welled up in the little cyclops’ eye and without skipping a beat, Nifty began to _sob._

All three of the littles froze and turned their attention to the crib. 

_Oh this wasn’t good-_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie was woken up by the sound of _crying and panicked yelling_ coming from her baby monitor which in turn made _her_ panic as well. _Was something wrong!? Were her babies hurt!?_

The princess wasn’t going to waste any time in figuring out! She sprang out of bed and made a beeline to the nursery. Charlie opened the door, preparing for the worst-

“What’s wrong!? Is one of you hurt?? _Are all of you hurt-!?”_

Charlie dashed over and knelt down so she could check them for injuries. She even made sure to check Alastor’s shadow as well, even though it was probably unlikely that it could get any kind of injury.

After ensuring that Al and Vaggie were unscathed, Charlie turned her attention to Nifty, who was still wailing while reaching out for her. 

Nifty hiccupped and hid her face in her mum’s chest while trying to calm back down. The princess cradled her close to her chest and cooed softly at her until her cries stopped.

Alastor, his shadow and Vaggie all stood and watched quietly, with worry and guilt written all over their faces.

“You three are up early.”

Charlie didn’t want them to think that they were in _trouble_ or anything, but she _did_ want to know what led up to this.

“Bambi woke me up!! Was trying to sleep!” Vaggie _immediately_ pointed fingers at Al and his shadow. 

Alastor blinked a few times and fidgeted while looking at Charlie. _He only woke her up cause it’s Papa’s birthday! He hopes the princess isn’t mad at him-_

Alastor’s shadow on the other hand, didn’t like being _snitched on-_ so it split into two and the other half shifted into a shadow of Vaggie. Then, it reenacted how Vaggie had _smacked_ Al in the face with a pillow earlier.

Charlie raised a brow at the display and Vaggie gasped.

“Only hit him cause he woke me up! No fair!!”

The way Vaggie raised her voice made Nifty whimper.

“Calm down Vaggie it’s okay. You’re not in trouble. None of you are-”

Upon hearing that Al’s ears perked up and his radio audience let out a soft cheer.

“But Al, it wasn’t very nice of you to wake Vaggie up so early. And Vaggie, it wasn’t nice to hit Alastor in the face with a pillow. No more being mean to each other, alright?”

Both littles looked at each other and mumbled out soft apologies before hugging. It was a sweet sight, really.

Al turned his attention to the princess and fidgeted once more.

“Papa?”

Charlie smiled and rubbed the top of his head. 

“That’s right, today is a special day isn’t it? It’s your Papa’s birthday!”

Alastor’s radio audience let out a louder cheer as the deer demon and his shadow nodded excitedly. Vaggie’s eyes lit up, _how could she forget!?_

“I remember promising a certain little fawn that we would make a cake today~ But first-”

The princess checked Nifty’s diaper, as well as Al’s. Vaggie wore pull-ups, but she rarely ended up using them.

“Everyone needs a bath and some breakfast!”

When Al’s shadow heard about bath time, it stuck its tongue out before choosing to be called back instead.

The littles giggled, and Charlie laughed while leading them off to the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valentino was up early, sipping on some coffee while scrolling through the _ungodly_ amount of birthday messages he had gotten from Velvet, along with the few he got from other overlords that gave enough of a shit about him to send one. How did they get his number? Who knows- 

There really were a lot of messages, but not one of them came from Vox. Val had to admit that things were still...weird between them. He knows that he hasn’t been spending as much time as he used to with him (or Velvet honestly) and sometimes he wonders if they think he’s trying to sabotage their friendship.

He loved Alastor with all his heart (that was his baby boy of course!) but Vox and Velvet were his oldest friends, and the thought of potentially having to choose between them all was enough to drive him to death _a second time-_

Val’s phone vibrated with another birthday message and he sighed when he saw that it was just another rando trying to get on his good side. His birthday wasn’t ever something that he gave much thought to in his life, much less his afterlife.

Ignoring the fact that his birthday falls on Valentine’s Day (which sort of makes his name a pun-) it’s just another day, another reminder that _hey maybe his crazy strict Catholic parents were onto something. Probably should have paid more attention at Mass motherfucker-_

The only upside to all this was that Alastor always seemed to be over the moon anytime anyone's birthday came around. You’d almost think that it was Al’s birthday with the way he acts. It’s endearing and especially adorable!

If his little Bambi didn’t have to work overtime at the hotel, there’s no doubt that he’d be running around the penthouse with a muffled version of _‘Happy Birthday’_ playing on repeat. 

Val checked the time, along with more meaningless birthday messages and sighed. Still no messages from Vox. Still way too early to go pick Al up from the hotel.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If there was one thing that Charlie was, it was _patient._ She has to be when dealing with so many littles! Especially in the kitchen! 

Baking a cake with Alastor, Vaggie and Nifty was both the most _entertaining_ and _frustrating_ thing Charlie thinks she’s ever tried to accomplish.

The amount of times Vaggie climbed up onto the counters to reach something almost matched the amount of times Charlie had to stop Alastor from eating all the _raw ingredients._ Not to mention that Nifty would stick _both_ her hands into any bowl, dish, or pan that was within her reach. 

Sometime during the baking fiasco, Husk stumbled in, clearly hungover from another full night of drinking. He blinked twice, saw the state of the kitchen and shuffled back out without a single word.

After another forty-five minutes or so (give or take-), it was time to leave the cake in the oven to bake. Charlie made **sure** that all of the littles stayed a safe distance away from the oven while she did this.

“Okay guys! While we wait, how about we make some birthday cards hm? I’m sure your Papa would like that right Al?” 

Alastor gasped and nodded. _He didn’t even think of doing that!! The princess always has such good ideas!!_

“Do you think you can go get your art stuff from the nursery Vaggie?”

Vaggie nodded and zoomed off down the hallway to go get her art crate. _She was gonna make Mr. Valentino an extra super special card for his birthday!!_

Once Vaggie got back with all the arts and crafts supplies, Charlie took everyone to the common room so they could work on their birthday cards. 

All three littles instantly started working on their cards, using anything they could to decorate. 

“Mamá, how do you spell Mr. Valentino?” 

Charlie smiled at her while helping Nifty cut some paper hearts. “Sound it out sweetheart, like we practiced~”

Vaggie looked back down at her card and started saying Valentino’s name bit by bit over and over. She still seemed a little confused.

Alastor pulled her card over and scribbled his Papa’s name on it with a marker.

Vaggie watched him while letting out a soft ‘ohhhh-’ 

Charlie fawned over the two for just a minute before she decided to check up on the cake. So, after making sure to take the scissors away (and resting Nifty in Vaggie’s lap), she got up and went to the kitchen.

In the near distance, a certain birthday moth was on his way up the elevator.

Val knew he was still a bit _early_ but he figured that it wouldn’t matter either way. He knew that Bambi wouldn’t mind at all.

Once he reached the top floor, he headed towards the area with the most noise, which was the common room. 

Valentino peeked his head in and saw Al, Vaggie and Nifty all at the coffee table. There were scraps of paper and glitter all over the place. _Oh boy-_

Alastor was the first one to notice him of course, and before he could let the excitement of seeing his Papa distract him, Vaggie covered his card with her hands, along with her and Nifty’s cards.

“Sorry Mr. Valentino but you can’t see yet!! Not ready!”

Nifty gasped and looked at Vaggie before copying what she just did. “Nu!” 

Val covered his eyes while letting out a soft huff of laughter.

“Whoops- My bad munchkin~ I didn’t see nothin’ I promise! Can you tell me where your Mama is?”

Vaggie kept her hands over the cards, even though Val’s eyes were covered.

“Mamá’s in the kitchen-” 

“Oh good, I’ll just head there then~” Valentino kept his eyes covered until he turned around, then uncovered them as he made his way to the kitchen.

Charlie was taking the time to decorate the cake while the littles were distracted. Once she saw Valentino walk in she smiled.

“You’re early!”

Val snorted and leaned on the wall by the kitchen entryway. 

“Wouldn’t be good for the _guest of honor_ to show up late~” 

Charlie giggled and continued frosting the cake in front of her.

“Well _guest of honor~_ Happy Birthday!! I haven’t finished decorating your cake yet!”

Val hummed while watching her decorate.

“So…how much of a disaster was it?” 

The princess let out a tired sigh, picking up another piping bag filled with hot pink icing.

“As much as you’d think- how the heck do you stop Al from eating everything before it’s even cooked?”

Val laughed and moved to sit at the table instead, peeking over at the cake while he did. 

“Graham crackers and good timing~” 

The two caregivers continued their conversation until the littles came running in, with huge smiles. Each of them were holding their recently decorated birthday cards in their hands.

Valentino moved his hands up to cover his eyes, like he did before.

“Are they done? Am I allowed to look~?” 

Vaggie giggled.

“Mhm! All ready now!!” 

Val uncovered his eyes and smiled. 

Nifty stretched her arms out towards Val and tried squirming out of Vaggie’s arms. Val took her into his lower set of arms and sat her down on his lap so she wouldn’t get too fussy. 

“Does that mean you want me to look at your card first then~?” Val looked over at Al, who was standing next to Vaggie semi-patiently. He wanted to make sure that his Bambi was okay with waiting for him to see his card.

Once Valentino was sure that Alastor wouldn’t kick up a fuss, he opened up Nifty’s card. There were a bunch of scribbles all over each side, along with some pink paper hearts glued haphazardly onto the paper.

“Well ain’t that gorgeous~ Thanks a lot tiny~” Val patted the top of Nifty’s head which earned him a happy wiggle, followed by a fit of giggles.

“Mine next mine next!!!” Vaggie pushed her card onto the table and looked up at Valentino expectantly.

Once again, Val looked over at Al, and though he looked a little _less_ patient, he still looked okay with waiting.

Val opened Vaggie’s card and the first thing he noticed was all the _glitter_ that spilled out of it once he did. He’d be seeing the remainders of this card for _weeks_ to come-

Inside the card were a few paper hearts glued in, along with the words ‘Happi Birthday Mr. Valentino’ written across the two sides in red glitter.

Glitter overkill aside, the card was actually pretty cute! 

“I love it munchkin~” Val used a free hand to ruffle Vaggie’s hair, causing the little moth to giggle even more. “You even spelt my name right! Good job!”

“Bambi helped me!”

“Oh~” Val turned his attention over to Alastor again and motioned for the little fawn to come closer to him. “Is that true baby boy?”

Al looked at his Papa with a shy smile and nodded.

“Papa’s really proud of you!” 

Valentino leaned down to plant a soft kiss on Alastor’s forehead.

“Why don’t you show me your card now hm? Papa can’t wait to see what’s inside~” 

Al seemed a bit more nervous now, he wasn’t sure if his card was as good as Vaggie or Nifty’s! _He didn’t want Papa to be disappointed!_

The deer demon slowly put his card down onto the table and fidgeted when Val picked it up and opened it.

Valentino looked at his card and blinked. Inside were a few paper hearts glued down, along with some red glitter sprinkled on the sides. The main focus of the card was the drawing that the little fawn did.

It was a drawing (well more of a doodle-) of the two of them holding hands. There were tons of little hearts scribbled around them, and both of them had crooked smiles drawn on their faces.

Val sat there staring at his stickman-self, forgetting where he was for just a moment. 

_This drawing was one of the cutest things he had ever seen-_

“Happy birthday Papa!” Alastor threw his arms around Val and nuzzled his face into his side while his audience let out a rousing round of applause. 

Valentino wrapped an arm around him and rubbed his ears. Despite what the majority of sinners believed, Alastor was always so damn sweet, and Val could hardly believe that he would be so lucky to have someone like the little fawn in his afterlife

“Thanks baby boy~ Papa really loves the card you made for him! You’re a real good artist~” 

Val couldn’t see his face, but he knew that Al’s smile grew three times wider because of his praise.

“Now that all the card giving is done-” Charlie walked over with the now fully decorated cake and rested it down in front of Val. “How about we all sing for Mr. Valentino~?” 

“Oh you ain’t gotta do tha-”

Alastor began playing a _very enthusiastic_ rendition of the birthday song melody, and the littles immediately started singing along with it.

After a _lengthy_ performance of every birthday song that Charlie and the littles knew, Val cut the cake up and served it around (making sure that Alastor got the first piece of course!) 

Soon after, it was time for Valentino and Alastor to head back home. The two said their goodbyes and headed down to the limo that would take them back to the penthouse. On the drive home, Val checked his phone again, and though there were definitely more messages, there still wasn’t a single one from Vox.

Once he and Al were back home, he sat down on the couch and surfed through the channels before he settled on a random Disney movie that Alastor instantly gave all his attention to.

The moth demon wouldn’t admit it, but he was kind of sulking. How come he still didn’t get a single message from Vox? _He didn’t even get a hello or anything!!_

He couldn’t be too upset, maybe the TV overlord was just busy. Or maybe…Val had done something to upset him? Totally not on purpose though- what could he have even done? 

Valentino continued brooding quietly to himself until he heard his front door open in the distance.

“Yo! Val! You better be home!! I’m not drivin’ back here if you ain’t!” 

Al’s ears perked up at the sound of his aunty Velvet’s voice. He didn’t expect to see her today!

Velvet came sashaying into the living room, followed by Vox who could barely be seen behind the _mountain_ of presents he was holding.

“Some of them are very fragile Voxy! _You better not drop them-”_

Alastor poked his head out from the couch and looked at both demons curiously. _Were all those presents for Papa?_

“I don’t think you realize how damn _heavy_ this stuff is!” 

Vox ended up dropping the pile of presents onto the other couch, dusting himself off after doing so.

Velvet chose to ignore him and went over to Alastor so she could ruffle his hair.

“How’s it goin’ sweetheart? Did you make sure that your Papa had a good birthday?”

Al nodded and his radio began to play the melody of the birthday song once again.

“That’s great~! I’m sure you see all the gifts I got for him, but I actually have a surprise for you too!”

The deer demon gasped and Velvet walked over to the other couch to pull one of the boxes onto Al’s lap. _He was getting a gift? It wasn’t even his birthday!_

Alastor’s radio audience made noises of excitement and cheered. He looked over at his Papa to make sure that it was okay to open up the present. 

Val smiled softly at him and nodded. “Go on baby boy, it is for you after all~”

Al quickly tore off all the wrapping paper, not focusing on how much of a _mess_ he was making. Once he opened the box up and took out what was inside he (and his audience) all let out another gasp.

It was a coat that looked just like his Papa’s!! But tinier!! And Shinier!!

Velvet giggled at the little fawn’s reaction, Al was just too cute!

“How’s about you go try it on hm? I’ll help you!”

Velvet took hold of Al’s hand and led him off down the hall, sparing a glance at Vox who had been perched on the side of the couch quietly.

“Happy birthday again Val~!” 

And with that, Vox and Valentino were left in the living room by themselves.

“Glad to know that you remember I existed Voxy~”

The TV overlord sighed and pursed his lips.

“I was busy today. Besides, you’re one to talk-”

Valentino clicked his tongue, folding his upper set of arms. 

“Don’t be like that Voxy~ You know I’ve been workin’ a lot recently, along with takin’ care of Al-”

“Yeah yeah I know _daddy dearest._ Not like we haven’t spent any time together in _weeks or anythin’”_

Val raised a brow, while a smirk slipped it’s way onto his face.

“Aww Voxy~ You been missin’ me~? How sweet~”

Vox could feel his antennae twitch in embarrassment, and a few exclamation marks popped up onto his screen.

“Well uh- we’re _supposed_ to be friends aren’t we? And _friends_ hang out with each other every once in a while-”

Valentino watched the other fumble through their words with an amused expression on his face. 

“-And everyone else down in this shithole ain’t _nearly_ good enough to hang around with the likes of me! I can’t just hang around with just _any_ bastard! I’m the goddamn TV overlord for fucks sake-”

“I miss hangin’ out with you too, Vox.”

Vox’s words fell short on his lips, and he blinked a few times before he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a skinny, rectangle shaped box and tossed it onto Val’s lap.

“Here.”

“For me~?”

Val opened up the box and smiled when he saw what was inside.

It was a shiny new pair of heart-shaped glasses, with red lenses and a gold frame.

“I remember you sayin’ that Al broke your other ones so...I got you these.”

Vox was actually kind of glad that Alastor ended up breaking Val’s glasses. One, because the thought of that was _kind of fuckin’ funny_ but also because up until that point, Vox had _no idea_ what to get Valentino for his birthday. So in a way, Al was kind of a life saver for him.

Vox would never tell Val or Velvet this, but he had actually had these glasses _custom made._ He wanted to be sure that they looked even better than his old pair and these _definitely_ did. Even though he’s been pushing him and Velvet onto the backburner, Vox still thought that Valentino deserved a nice gift for his birthday.

But, he’d rather die a second time than ever let anybody know that-

“Oh Voxy~ You shouldn’t have!”

With how the day went, Valentino honestly wasn’t expecting to even _see_ Vox, much less get a gift from him. He was planning to buy himself another pair of glasses when he got the time, but now he didn’t have to! These ones were so much better!

“I love them~”

Vox moved to sit next to Val on the couch, yelping when he was _very suddenly_ pulled into a four armed hug.

“Thanks a lot Vox. I’ll make it up to you somehow-” 

The TV overlord ignored the way his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest and huffed softly. He really did want to spend more time with the moth demon, but he knew that Valentino was a busy guy, even more so with what he had going on with Alastor. Age regression was still something that he was getting used to, but he wasn’t nearly as bothered as he used to be. Vox just wished that it didn’t end up taking up _all_ of Val’s free time. But if being Al’s caregiver made him happy, who was Vox to demand that he take time away from it?

For the time being, he’d just have to settle for the little moments he got to spend with Val. Even now, just sitting on the couch with him was almost enough to make him look past all the times he ended up flaking on him and Velvet in recent times.

_Almost._

“Happy Birthday Valentino.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this chapter as sort of a late birthday gift for myself! I was trying to get this out in time for Valentine's Day, but I got swamped with work. I hope that you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! I think I'm finally gonna be able to post the chapter focused on Husk next, hopefully. I'm excited to show you guys what I wrote for him pertaining to his age regression! Happy to see that all the feedback has remained pretty positive! Thanks for reading! ♡


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